


You're Such An Idiot

by JulieStrums



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Lesbian Disaster Adora (She-Ra), POV Adora (She-Ra), POV Catra (She-Ra)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 44,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27799372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JulieStrums/pseuds/JulieStrums
Summary: This story takes place right after the end of She-Ra's last episode. Being as authentic and realistic as possible, I tried to figure out how Catra and Adora are going to work on their relationship and especially on each other, now that the world is at peace. The chapters alternate between Adora's and Catra's POV, as first person narrative.I hope you enjoy reading it as much I love writing it :3
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 70
Kudos: 246





	1. Catra

Everything just feels so… weird. I can’t believe it’s actually over. The war. The fear. This whole world was about to end just a moment ago and right now I’m standing next to Adora, looking up at Prime’s ship, now covered in trees and plants and whatever. She-Ra’s really outdone herself this time. Like, seriously? Trees? Into space? And Etheria… I look around and everything is bright and colorful and shiny and… we did this. I mean, it was She-Ra basically but I was the one who brought her back. I brought Adora back. I… I can’t believe I actually told her that! And I can’t even believe she said it back. Every time I think about it I can’t help blushing like hell and I hate it. I’m gonna have to find a way to control this thing, otherwise her friends will go on and torture me with their “you’re so cute!” and stuff for the rest of our lives. I’ll figure that out, I can definitely control⸺

“Hey” Adora’s soft voice makes its way into my tangled thoughts and shifts all my focus back to her. I turn around to meet her blue-grey eyes, her eyebrows slightly curved in an expression of pure fondness. I still can’t get used to that and before I realize it I feel my cheeks turning red. Thank goodness Sparkles and Bow are not around to see it.

“Hey Adora” I reply with the softest tone possible. It’s strange, how good it feels to say these two words now that we… Now that we’re not enemies anymore. The shadow of those memories crosses my mind, the look on Adora’s face when she faced me, when she fought me… She was hurt, I never got that. I thought she was doing just fine without me, but in the end she really cared, she never gave up on me, and all I did was…

“Are you okay?” Adora asks noticing I’ve stopped smiling.

“Yeah, it’s just…” I shrug and hug my knees with my arms and tail, trying to make myself as small as I can. “I’m still struggling to forgive myself for what I’ve done, I guess”

“You mean, saving the world?” she smirks.

“No, dummy” I find myself smiling again. It’s so easy when she’s around. “I mean, when we were fighting each other”

Adora looks away and sighs deeply. “I think about that a lot” she murmurs. “About how different things could have been if only I had… stayed”

“You had no reason for staying, Adora. You were right the whole time, about the Horde and⸺”

“It doesn’t matter, Catra. I shouldn’t have left you. Not like that” She looks at me now, and I can see in her eyes that she’s in pain. “I get it now. When we were at the Heart and you said…” I feel my heart pounding in my chest, literally. I hope she doesn’t notice. “and you said you had always felt that way, I realized how lonely you must have felt when I said I wouldn’t come back to the Fright Zone”

Only the memory of that moment is enough to give me chills. I suddenly feel my eyes kind of wet. “I should have come with you, it’s my fault” I whisper, faintly. “You did what you had to do”

“No” The firm tone in her voice catches me by surprise. She looks… angry. “I could have gone home with you. We could have talked it through, I know I would have convinced you, eventually. There were so many other ways… But I just left, and you were right. You were so right to be angry with me, Catra” Her hands gently cup mine. “I’m so sorry for leaving. I never wanted to hurt you”

She had told me that so many times. That she was sorry, that she didn’t mean to leave me behind. But I was so… stubborn, back then. And angry. And lonely. How could I be so stupid? She never wanted to hurt me and all I did in return was hurting her all along. And still she is the one who’s apologizing! Seriously, what is wrong with this dumb head? How can she love me⸺because she said she does, right? I didn’t imagine that⸺after all I’ve done?

“I will make it up to you, Adora” That’s all I manage to say right now. I’ll come up with the right words, eventually. “I promise”

She leans forward till our foreheads touch. This feels so good I start purring.

“And I promise I’ll never leave you again”

The sun is now setting over Etheria, I can see the reflection of its red beams in Adora’s watery eyes.

“You’d better keep your promise, dummy, because there’s no way I’m letting you go this time”


	2. Adora

I can’t believe my stomach started growling the exact moment I was about to kiss Catra. I mean, I’m allowed to be hungry though, right? I’ve just saved the world! And I nearly died doing it! And Catra said she⸺oh my god I still can’t get over this⸺she loves me! And we’re going to bring magic back to the universe, together! Me, her, Glimmer, Bow, the new Best Friends Squad! And Catra’s right here next to me, heads touching, purring… This moment was just too perfect, of course my silly stomach had to ruin it. But it’s okay, I think. Catra’s here now. She’s not going anywhere. Not this time.

“You sound hungry, princess” she giggles.

“I’m not!” Lie. I’m so terrible at lying. Why am I terrible at lying? The only thing I’m good at is turning into a giant lady with a sword, and I’ve not been the best at that either, lately. Not that I can complain about how my last transformation went… that was epic. I’m gonna tease Catra about it, like, forever. “Okay, maybe a little. I just really need to put something in my stomach. You know,” I raise my eyebrow in a teasing smirk, “saving the world can be quite exhausting!”

“Oh, shut up!” she sneers, pulling away and grabbing my hair puff. She’s the only one allowed to do that, period. “I did most of the job, anyway” she brags. “Come on, let’s go get something to eat. I’m starving too”

We stand up together, holding hands, walking towards Glimmer and the others, not far from us.

“Hey guys!” I call out, waving my hand. “Ready to go home?”

Glimmer and Bow are holding each other⸺awww, aren’t they cute?⸺and smiling in our direction. “Of course we are!” shouts Bow, as enthusiastic as usual. “I think we can all have dinner at Bright Moon tonight” suggests Glimmer. The sound of the word “dinner” is enough to make my stomach growl, again.

“Sounds good to me” I agree, slightly embarrassed. “We’ve also got plenty of spare rooms if the others want to stay overnight”

“Can I…” Catra stammers, looking uncomfortable. She takes some time before looking directly into my eyes. “Can I stay in your room?”

Oh my god I can’t believe she just said that in front of Glimmer and Bow. My cheeks are turning the color of a red pepper as I hear Bow whispering: “Just. So. CUTE!” Luckily for him, Catra did not hear it⸺I mean she probably did, she’s half cat after all, she’s just too uncomfortable right now to reply⸺, as her mismatched eyes are still locked on mine.

“Of course you can, Catra” I answer, squeezing her hand. “I wouldn’t let you sleep anywhere else”

She’s the one turning the color of a red pepper now. I love seeing how the look on her face changes from uncertain to embarrassed and finally annoyed. “Will you ever learn to keep your mouth shut?” she sighs.

“Good luck with that!” says Glimmer elbowing me. “Ready to go guys? I’ll teleport you first and then I’ll come back for the others”

“I hate teleporting” Catra grunts. “Be quick, Sparkles”

“When you’re ready, Horde scum”

I find myself smiling as they keep teasing each other. Watching the two of them together makes me realize how lucky we are. How lucky I am, to have such friends by my side. Glimmer and Bow had no reason to forgive and accept Catra, but they still did. I didn’t even have to ask them, they just did. They trusted me on this, as they trusted me with everything we’ve been through. There was a time I thought I had to choose between them and Catra, but now that I have all of them right in front of me… It’s just too much. I feel so grateful that my eyes start burning again.

“Let’s go guys” I say throwing my arms at them. “Let’s go home, together”

Right before Glimmer teleports us, I feel Catra’s tail wrapping around my waist. A gentle squeeze. I’ve never felt so happy in my entire life.


	3. Catra

I had no idea Wrong Hordak could cook so well. I mean, this makes me even more upset with Hordak himself! Why would he feed us those terrible grey bars if he had, _potentially_ , such impressive cooking skills? If all of Prime’s clones are alike, then Hordak should be just as good as Wrong Hordak, I guess. And now there he is, sitting right in front of me, eating at this enormous table, sharing food with princesses, his worst enemies until, like, two hours ago. I’m not in the best position to speak, either, but _I_ actually helped save Etheria. The only reason he’s here is Entrapta, I can tell that from the way they interact. I can’t believe she _fell_ for him. Like, how is that even possible? He’s never been fun, or kind, or anything, really. But yeah, still better than hanging out with your own robots, I guess.

I can tell some princesses feel uncomfortable, having Hordak at the table. The sea one, for example, she keeps grunting: “Are we seriously just ok with that?”, ignoring Perfuma’s attempt to calm her down through some stupid breathing exercises. The ice kid seems also kind of upset. I think she’s plotting to freeze his food while he swallows. That should definitely take him out, right?

“Done eating already?” suddenly asks Sparkles, with an unexpectedly high-pitched voice that makes me jump, my tail inevitably puffed up. “Oh sorry I didn’t mean to scare you!” she adds, struggling to control her laughter. Ugh, this is so embarrassing it makes me miss the old times when people were actually scared of me.

“You didn’t _scare_ me, Sparkles” I reply, adjusting my tail. “How could you possibly scare me? Threatening me with glitter, perhaps?”

“You know I could definitely kick your a⸺”

“Girls!” Adora barges in with a nervous, dumb smile on her face. “Do you think you can maintain truce until dinner is over?”

“Deal” agrees Sparkles. “I can beat you up later”

“You wish” I snigger. “And by the way, yeah, I’m done eating. I think I’ll go get some rest now” All of a sudden I feel completely out of place. And tired. All I want is to be alone and recharge. I mean… maybe not alone…

“I’m coming with you” says Adora, smiling. “I could use some rest too”

Adora grabs my hand, which is enough to make any discomfort disappear, as I slightly lift my ears and smile back at her.

“See you tomorrow guys!” she says as we leave the room.

I wait until the racket from the dining room fades away to ask her:

“How can you be okay with that?”

“With what?” she asks, acting confused.

“Hordak. How can you… forgive him?”

“It’s not about forgiveness, Catra” She keeps walking down the corridors of this immense castle, looking like she knows every corner of it by heart. Just like she used to know every corner of the Fright Zone. I guess now I’ll be the one following her around, because I have no idea where we’re going. “I haven’t forgiven him” she adds, keeping her eyes low. “I just… I just thought I had to give him a chance”

“But why? After all he’s done! What if he’s planning something to take over Bright Moon? How can you possibly trust him?”

“I don’t! I trust Entrapta. She’ll keep an eye on him”

“So you trust a princess who would sell you out for a piece of tech”

Adora stops in the middle of the corridor and faces me. “You don’t know Entrapta, you shouldn’t talk about her like that” she snaps.

“I actually spent quite a lot of time with her too, you know” I reply, my tail wagging nervously.

“Yeah, you mean when you took advantage of our mistake to turn her against us?”

Her voice sounds so cold it makes me freeze, literally. I can tell from Adora’s look that she’s already regretting her words. “Catra, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean⸺”

“No, you’re right” I whisper, flattening my ears. “You’re just telling the truth”

“Catra” Her voice is now breaking, or rather melting, at least that’s how it feels to me. From ice cold to warm, soft. “I got nervous, I wasn’t trying to be mean. It’s just… we’ve been through a lot. And it’s not easy for me to trust Hordak, or Entrapta, or even… you”

I can’t stand to look at her, not now. I feel my veins feel with shame and self-hate. Adora grabs my hands, which I can’t keep from shaking. Nor can I keep my eyes from filling up with tears.

“It’s not easy for me to trust you because I’m afraid, Catra” she confesses, almost crying. I stubbornly keep my head down. “I’m so afraid of losing you again. I’m afraid of you leaving, like that night before we left for the Heart. I couldn’t bear it. I thought I’d never see you again and I thought you hated me and⸺”

“Adora!” I find the courage to look up at her, and I find tears running down her cheeks. “I’ve never hated you” I pull her closer to me. “Not even when I thought I did. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t. That’s why I opened that portal in the first place. Don’t you get it? There was nothing left for me. You took… you were everything to me, Adora. I wouldn’t have cared if the world had ended. I didn’t⸺” I hesitate as my body starts shaking violently. “I had lost it all. And I just wanted to take you down with me”

Adora throws her arms around my neck and holds me tight. _Really_ tight. I can feel her heart against my chest as she quietly sobs. I feel my knees melting as I struggle to choke my tears back. But Adora is holding me, and that’s the only thing that keeps me from breaking down.

“I got you now” she sobs. “I’m not letting go. Just promise me you’ll stay”

She’s right. I’ve always been the one asking her to stay, but I left her too. I couldn’t see that before, but now it makes sense. We left each other so many times I lost count. But it doesn’t have to be like this anymore. I won’t lose her again. I can’t.

“I promise” I whisper, holding her tight. It feels so good to say it. It’s warm, and it’s real. And no one can take that from me.


	4. Adora

I hold Catra tight until she stops shaking. I hold her tight until I stop sobbing. I can’t seem to hold myself back, lately. Not since I rescued her from Prime’s clutches. I just keep having this urge to hold her, it’s like I can’t get used to the fact that she’s really here. I’ve spent so much time thinking about having her near while we were apart that now this feels just too good to be real. And yet, it is.

Catra eventually stops shivering, as a quiet purr vibrates through our touching bodies. It’s the most comforting sound in the whole world. I love it.

“Let’s go to sleep” I smile, caressing her cheek. In return, she trills fondly: it’s been ages since I last heard this cute sound, something like a closed-mouth meow. It’s so tender I start looking at her with heart-shaped eyes. I know she hates that, but she’s gotta face the consequences of being so cute.

“I follow you, dummy” she replies, nudging my shoulder.

When we finally get to my room⸺ _our_ room, now?⸺I can’t help feeling quite tense. I’ve been sleeping in this room all alone for so many nights, dreaming about her. Nightmares, mostly. I was not used to that, at first. Sleeping without Catra, I mean. As long as I could remember, she had always slept curled up on my bed, since the very night she got to the Fright Zone. I have missed that, _so much_. I’ve missed having sleepovers with her, staying up all night whispering about our future life together. It’s always been _our_ future, we never questioned that. I still can’t believe I let this happen. Growing apart. I knew she needed me. I knew she had nobody else. And I did it anyway. I broke my promise, I couldn’t protect her. But things will be different from now on. I’m never going to leave her again.

“ _This_ is where you’ve been sleeping all this time?” she exclaims in awe as I open the door. “Now I see why you got used to being a princess so quick”

“Not really” I reply with a smirk. “I just couldn’t fall sleep alone, you know? I even sneaked into Glimmer’s bed the first night⸺”

I freeze, realizing how dumb I am for saying _that_ out loud. I turn around to find Catra frowning down at me. Her ears are flattened.

“Uh, I mean…” I add with a nervous laughter. “I didn’t actually sneak _into_ her bed. I mean yeah we slept in the same bed but we weren’t even that close and⸺”

“Adora, relax” she snaps, looking away. “I don’t care what you did with Sparkles”

I can’t help giving her my best teasing face, raising my eyebrow while sneering. “Are you _jealous_?”

“What?!” she screams, her tail wildly puffed up. “Of course I’m not!”

“Oh my god you’re jealous!”

“I said I’m not⸺”

“I can’t believe you are actually jealous⸺”

I don’t manage to finish my sentence because Catra leaps towards me and knocks me down in a matter of seconds, straddling me. She’s always done that, straddling me after knocking me down. But right now I feel there’s something different. We’re not kids anymore, we’re not playing. We’re not enemies either, we’re not fighting. That’s why, for the first time ever, I can’t help blushing as she stays on top of me. She widens her mismatched eyes, probably feeling the same as I do. We stay still, just looking at each other, for maybe five seconds, before Catra quickly jumps back on her feet, her face as red as mine.

“I’m sorry, I got angry” she grumbles. “It’s⸺”

“Something you’re working on, yeah, I know” I finish with a smile, getting up. “I’m not sure you should apologize for that, though. It was… nice”

She lifts her ears up a bit, smiling. “Yeah… whatever. And why is there a fountain in here, anyway? What kind of bedroom has a fountain in it?”

“Yeah, that struck me too when I first got here” I chuckle. “You’ll get used to it”

“And what is _that_?” she asks pointing at my gigantic bed covered in equally gigantic pillows.

“Well that’s just my… our bed, yeah”

“I can’t believe this”

“You know, I actually tore the mattress up the first time I tried to sleep in there”

“You _what_?” she bursts out laughing. I realize it’s been ages since I last heard her laughing like this. “You’re such a disaster, Adora. No wonder you kept losing to me when we were fighting”

“Wo wo wo!” I snort. “When exactly did I lose to you? It seems to me that _you_ were the one I kept letting escape”

“Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that, _princess_ ”

“ _Princess_ is not an insult, you know that, right?”

“It definitely is!”

“So you’re saying you have a problem with me turning into She-Ra? Because last time I did, you seemed to like it _a lot_ ”

“You⸺Get over yourself!” She pushes me, laughing. I respond locking her neck with my arm, trapping her. She hates when I do that.

“Just admit you like She-Ra” I tease her.

“I don’t!” she protests, still laughing, setting free from my grip.

I raise my eyebrow, hands on my hips. “Are you always going to be _so_ stubborn?”

“Are you always going to be _so_ annoying?”

I snort, shaking my head. “You’re hopeless. Let’s just get to bed”

I literally let myself drop on the bed, realizing how actually tired I am after this insane day. I stare at the ceiling while Catra timidly sits on the mattress, her tail nervously wagging.

“I can’t believe this is over” I whisper, letting my thoughts flow. “I can’t believe we brought peace to Etheria. Prime is gone, the Horde doesn’t exist anymore. And we…”

My eyes shift from the ceiling to Catra. She looks tense. I can tell it’s because she’s too afraid to curl up next to me in bed. She thinks I wouldn’t like that. She actually thought I didn’t want her, all this time. I’m not good at showing my feelings, I get that, I’m more into punching them out really, but still I find it hard to believe that she never realized what she means to me.

“Come here” I smile at her, patting my hand on the mattress. “It’s okay”

I spot her tail quivering, as she curls up next to me, visibly grateful.

I let my arm rest on her waist, eyes still locked on hers.

“I’ve missed you” I whisper so quietly I can barely hear myself saying it. “So much”

“I’ve missed you too” she replies, her voice cracking.

I smile, letting this strange, warm feeling fill my entire body. Catra gently brushes her tail against my legs and starts purring, closing her eyes. This moment is so perfect I can’t believe I haven’t spoiled it yet. All I want to do is just… oh, come on, just do it, Adora. You got this.

I lean closer to Catra and lightly press my lips on her forehead. She’s soft. Catra suddenly opens her eyes, taken by surprise. She smiles back at me, with the exact same face she did when she said I was such an idiot, back at the Heart, right before I told her I love her, right before we…

My thoughts crumble into pieces when Catra reaches for my lips. The world might as well end right now, honestly I wouldn’t even notice. Every cell of my brain is melting, that’s what it feels like to kiss her. I place my hand right behind her ear and gently stroke her hair, kissing her back, drifting off to sleep. Just like that.


	5. Entrapta

UNBELIEVABLE! I just can’t believe Bright Moon doesn’t have a lab. What’s the point of having a huuuuge castle if you can’t even isolate yourself from all the people hanging around here? Plus, this castle is undoubtedly technologically backward. I get that magic is canon here, but this shouldn’t stop scientific research! I’ll tell Bow about this, he seems to be the only one who understands the importance of SCIENCE! Well, there’s also Hordak, sure, but he doesn’t have a saying on anything right now, since they brought him to the spare room, the “prison”, as they like to call it. At least they waited until dinner was over: even prisoners can’t go to bed on an empty stomach in Bright Moon. That would be just too cruel.

I get why they decided to take him away, though. I get why nobody likes him. He can be a little… _rough_ , sometimes, I know, and he has been definitely trying to take over Etheria this whole time. But if they forgave me for using my robots against the Rebellion, maybe they could forgive him too, right? After all, Hordak turned against Prime! That should count for something, right? I’ll go check out on him, just to make sure he’s doing okay.

Even though Glimmer said I can stay overnight, I’d like to go back to Dryl as soon as possible. There’s soooo much work I left there and I would really need an assistant to help me re-organize my notes. Maybe I can convince Glimmer to let me take Hordak to Crypto Castle! At least that place looks _seriously_ like a prison.

When I get to the spare room, two guards are standing at both sides of the door, still as statues.

“Hello there!” I exclaim with probably too much enthusiasm. “May I talk to the prisoner?”

“The access to this room is strictly forbidden, by order of Queen Glimmer” replies one of them. They look exactly identical in their armors, anyway.

“Do you always have to be so formal, guys?” I chuckle. “I just want to say hi⸺”

“Nobody is allowed inside” replies the other one. I swear my robots have waaaaaay more personality than these guards.

“Come on, guys, can’t we just⸺”

“Entrapta!” Glimmer’s voice interrupts my brilliant persuasion techniques. “What are you doing?”

“Hey Glimmer! I was wondering if you could⸺”

“I won’t leave you alone with Hordak, Entrapta” she stops me before I even finish, sounding kind of harsh. “He’s here so we can keep an eye on him, whatever he does. I only let him have dinner with all of us just because we were celebrating and I wanted you to enjoy that too, I know you care about him and you wanted him there. But this doesn't change what he did, Entrapta. He was our enemy, he spread fear and destruction all over Etheria, he was the one who brought Prime here in the first place”

“That was you, actually”

Glimmer stiffens, clenching her fists. Uh-oh, was I too straightforward? “I made a mistake” she hisses “but I was acting in good faith. I never _meant_ to hurt anyone. The only thing Hordak cares about is himself, you’d better realize it before you get hurt”

“You don’t know him like I do!” I cry as my hair intertwines to form fists. “He’s not evil! There’s good in him, I saw it!”

“What you saw” shouts Glimmer, pointing her finger at me, “is a lab partner that used you to get where he wanted!”

“That’s not true!” I scream, tears of anger filling up my eyes. “He _remembered_ me when his mind was supposed to be erased for good. According to my calculations that must mean⸺”

“Entrapta! You can’t calculate feelings!”

I fall silent, making myself as small as possible, my hair tied around my shoulders in a sort of self-hug. I suppose I’d like someone to do that, hug me, but apparently I can’t see that someone right now.

Glimmer sighs deeply and moves closer to me. She puts her hand on my shoulder, gently caressing a lock of hair. “I know this is hard for you” she says in a calmer tone. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I just don’t want you to get hurt. I think all of us deserve happiness, after all we’ve been through. But I don’t trust Hordak. I’m sorry, I don’t. I forgave you for the time you spent with the Horde because I know Catra had brainwashed you. I just don’t want that to happen again. You’re quite easy to…”

She looks away, trying to find the right words. Oh but I know what she means. She doesn’t even have to say it out loud.

“I know you don’t trust me” I murmur. “You think Hordak could turn me against you, don’t you?” Glimmer doesn’t reply, but I can still see the answer in her eyes. “Do you really think I would be so vulnerable? So easily manipulable? As you said, I made a mistake once, but I never meant to hurt anyone”

“Really?!” Glimmer raises her voice. “But you knew what the Horde was doing with your robots! You almost got Bow killed!”

I freeze up, shocked. Glimmer’s eyes are filled with tears, she’s trying to stop her body from shaking. I’m not good at reading people, but I can tell she’s angry at me. She really is. And the worst thing is, she’s right to be angry. I keep staring at the floor, absent-minded.

“Look,” says Glimmer, trying to calm down, “I know we would have never won this war without you. And I know you’re only trying to help Hordak. But you have to understand my choice, Entrapta. I’m not saying he’s going to be a prisoner forever. But right now it is safer to have him locked up, okay? I’ll let you see him every now and then, if you want, but I will always keep somebody on watch, the whole time. That’s all I can give you, for now”

“I was hoping you could… let me take him to Crypto Castle…”

“Are you serious right now?”

“A lot of rooms there actually look like a _prison_ …”

“This room will do just fine! Why is everyone obsessed with Bright Moon’s prison anyway?!”

“I’m just saying that if you want him to be a prisoner, that’s fine. He could be a prisoner in my castle!”

“No way. I’m not so naïve, Entrapta. I know what would happen. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to stick to my rules”

I sigh, deeply. Well, at least I tried. I guess I’ll have to earn Glimmer’s trust before trying again. Very well, I will. I’ll prove her that I can be trusted, I’ll prove everyone! I… I just need a plan.

It’s time to get back to my lab.


	6. Catra

I’m back to Prime’s ship. His clones are holding me down, forcing me to step inside the green liquid tub. I try so hard not to show him I’m scared as hell, but I am. This is it, it’s over. I’ll never have the chance to see Adora again. I’ll never have the chance to make it up to her. There’s no way she would come back for me… Why would she? All I did was hurt her and her friends. She must hate me. The only person I care about in the entire universe hates me. How could I let that happen? How could I be so stupid? Will she forgive me someday? Will she even think of me? Will I… remember her when this is over?

“Cast out the shadows! Cast out the shadows! Cast out the shadows!”

Prime looks down on me, sneering. “It’s time to cleanse your soul, child. Are you ready?”

I have to cling on to a memory, otherwise I’ll break down. So I close my eyes, tears warming up my cheeks, and I think about the promise we made. Me and Adora. We promised we’d look out for each other. I remember her dumb toothless smile when she said that. Last time I saw this memory I literally left her hanging on a cliff, knowing she would have probably died. And still… she always refused to hurt me. She would hesitate, hold back her strength when she was She-Ra. And I called her weak for that, when all she was actually doing was… keeping her promise.

“Cast out the shadows! Cast out the shadows! Cast out the shadows!”

It’s too late now. Too late for me. But maybe… just maybe… she could come back for me. That’s just how she is. She’s… she’s such an idiot.

A broken smile lifts the corners of my mouth. Prime’s clones’ voices grow louder.

“Do not worry” says Prime. “There will be no more suffering. I shall make you pure”

It takes all the courage I have left to face Prime and speak up. “She will stop you, you know? She will kick your ass. There is no way you win this” My chest fills up with pride as I talk about her. She’s strong, Adora. She won’t lose. She’s gonna win in the end. That’s all that matters.

“We’ll see about that” replies Prime, confident. “But for now, it’s time to say goodbye to _your_ Adora”

The clones drag me further into the liquid, I don’t have the strength to fight them anymore. A powerful electric discharge suddenly runs through my body, causing me to fall on my knees, screaming with pain.

“Aaaaaaargh!”

I open my eyes wide and I wake up in the middle of the night, the sheets soaking wet.

“Catra!” Adora wakes up immediately, her voice full of anguish. She puts her arms around me, trying to stop me from shaking. “Catra it’s okay, I’m here”

My heart beats wildly fast, the thin layer of fur all over my body is puffed up. I’m panting, shuddering. I reach for the scar behind my neck, terrified. There is no chip. It was just a dream. Just a nightmare…

Adora holds me tighter and starts caressing my hair, whispering: “It’s okay, it’s okay”. I try to calm down, focusing only on her scent. It hasn’t changed at all, this whole time. Even when we were fighting, hitting each other… even then, her scent was just the same. It never really left the Fright Zone. It never left me. I inhale, deeply, and it feels like home.

“I… had a nightmare” I whisper, exhaling. “I’m sorry I woke you up”

“You don’t have to be sorry” she replies, with a soft smile. “I’m here for you, Catra”

I know you are. You always have.

“I keep dreaming about the chip” I confess, flattening my ears. “I can’t get it out of my head”

“It’s totally normal, Catra. I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through, I…” she stops and looks away, sad. “I wish I could have stopped that”

“You’re not responsible for what happened to me, Adora” I reply, firmly. “You were never responsible for my actions”

“I should have come and rescue you as soon as you sent Glimmer” she insists. “I might have⸺”

“Adora, listen to me” I touch her cheek, lightly. “You came back for me. You saved me. I thought it was over and I thought you didn’t even care! But then you… You were there, and I could see you, I could hear you, even when I was chipped. I could feel my body hitting you, and I hated it. And I could feel you holding me. You held me and didn’t let go, not even when I clawed your back. You never stopped protecting me, Adora. No matter how much I hurt you, you just wouldn’t let me go. So don’t you ever, _ever_ dare think you haven’t done enough for me”

Her grey-blue eyes brighten, her face softens into a warm smile. “You’re getting pretty good at that”

“At what?”

“Words”

I snort, playfully. “It’s a side effect of spending so much time with a princess, I guess”

She holds me closer, causing me to purr instinctively. “I hope we’ll get to spend much more time together, then”

I close my eyes, my head resting on her chest. Her heart beats right against my cheek. “We will, princess. I’m not going anywhere”


	7. Adora

I’ve always woken up before Catra. She would sleep until noon if she could. Back to the Fright Zone, I’d wake up with the sun and start training, first thing in the morning. Then breakfast, then back to training, and only _then_ , at about lunchtime, Catra would get up. Even if we slept together almost every single night, she still complained about waking up alone. She could go on all day teasing me about it. But that’s just how I am, I can’t help it. Sleeping in is not my thing. Not even after winning an intergalactic war and setting the magic of Etheria free. Nope, still not enough to get me to relax.

I open my eyes and I find my legs interlocked with Catra’s, her tail and left arm wrapped around my waist. I blink a couple times just to make sure this is actually real. She’s breathing against my chest at a steady pace, looking so peaceful and harmless it makes me smile. Suddenly I feel like I don’t really want to get up at all. Maybe we can stay like this a little more…

I only take my eyes off Catra when I hear an indistinct noise coming from the door: it’s like a series of gentle scratches, as if a cat…

…

“Melog!” I suddenly exclaim sitting up, causing Catra to wake up abruptly with a cry of surprise. “What? Adora? Are you okay?” I try not to laugh in her face when I see her tail looking pretty much electrified.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out!” I chuckle, now realizing how dumb I am for waking her up like that, ruining our peaceful, perfect morning. Good job, Adora. “It’s Melog, I think they’re asking to get inside!”

“Oh my god I completely forgot about them last night!” she exclaims, panicking. She jumps out of bed and rushes to the door. As soon as she opens it, Melog jumps right on top of her and starts licking her face. “I missed you too” she chuckles, holding them. They’re so cute together I can barely handle this.

“It’s okay, Catra” I say getting up. “I think Melog could have entered the room, if they wanted to. They’re shape-shifters, after all. Maybe they felt you wanted to be alone, just for last night”

Catra sits up and gives me a warm look, keeping on petting Melog. “Yeah, maybe”

Melog starts meowing at Catra and a couple of seconds later she is struggling to control her blushing, her tail wagging nervously.

“What are they saying?” I ask, curious, kneeling beside them. 

“N-never mind” she stutters, avoiding eye contact. “Let’s just… let’s go check on the others”

“What?” I sneer with an inquisitive look. “Since when do you want to _check on the others_? What’s going on?”

“Just⸺Shut up!” she snaps, giving me a fierce look. But I can tell she’s not _really_ angry because Melog looks just fine, as peaceful as usual when I’m around.

“Fine, whatever” I say, getting up. “You’ll tell me, eventually. Do you wanna have breakfast, anyway?”

“Yeah, breakfast, sure” she agrees pretty quickly. She’s never agreed with _anything_ so quickly, now that I think about it. I’ll find out what Melog told her, definitely. That’s my mission for today.

Catra stands up, her face still pretty red. “Let’s go, I’m starving”

She walks towards the door, but I jump in front of her and shut it behind my back. She freezes, lifting her ears in surprise.

“Adora, what⸺”

“You’re not going anywhere”

She gulps. “What are you⸺”

“You’re not going anywhere,” I repeat with a defiant smile, “until you tell me what Melog told you”

She grinds her teeth, but Melog is still looking playful. Good, this means she’s secretly enjoying this.

“It’s nothing, really” she tries to play it down. “They were just saying they missed me last night”

“Yeah, sure. And you got _so_ red because of that? Come on, Catra” I narrow my eyes. “Just tell me”

“Or what?”

I bend my knees slightly and clench my fists. I realize just now how much I’ve missed wrestling with her. Now that she’s not trying to actually kill me anymore, this is going to be fun. Catra seems to realize where this is going and she gets in position, ready to face me. Her claws are retracted, for the first time in a very long time.

“Have it your way, princess”

She jumps at me, in an attempt to slam me into the door, but I anticipate her move and step aside. I take her off-guard and lock her neck with my arm, lifting her slightly off the floor.

“Hey, Catra” I whisper in her ear.

She sneers and elbows me in the stomach⸺ouch, not as gently as I expected!⸺, causing me to loosen my grip on her neck. She easily wriggles away and trips me up. Before I realize it, I hit the ground and suddenly she’s on top me, _again_ , holding both my wrists down.

“Hey, Adora” she smiles, basking in her moment of glory. “Is that all you’ve got?”

All of a sudden I feel like I can’t move. It’s not because she’s holding me down⸺I could totally break free if I wanted to⸺, it’s just… I can’t stop looking at her in this light, her mismatched eyes fixed on mine, her lips curved in a defiant smile that makes my heart beat faster, for some reason. So I just stay still, unable to react. When she realizes I’m not resisting, she widens her eyes, just a bit, then she loosens her grip on my wrists and slowly slides her hands into mine, interlocking our fingers. At this point my heartbeat gets so loud I’m pretty sure she can hear it too. Catra starts to lean over, real slow, my eyes fall on her lips, and then…

“Hey guys!!” Glimmer’s voice thunders from outside the door, scaring the hell out of us to the point that I bump my head on Catra’s in an attempt to get up.

“Ouch! Damn, Sparkles!” she curses, pressing her hand on her forehead, where I accidentally hit her.

“Oh, sorry” I chuckle, my face redder than ever. “Did I hurt you?”

“I’m gonna kill her” she replies, grinding her teeth.

“Please don’t”

I get up, trying to put myself together. Melog has been watching this whole time, quietly. There’s something in their eyes… they look… pleased.

I open the door to find Glimmer and Bow grinning at me. “Morning, guys!” exclaims Bow, looking as enthusiastic as usual. “Hope we didn’t wake you up”

“Oh, no” replies Glimmer before I can even open my mouth, giving me a knowing look that does not help with my blushing. “I’m pretty sure they were already awake”

“Sparkles” growls Catra, coming forward. “I don’t know about you, but _I_ personally don’t like people screaming at our bedroom door in the morning”

“Aww, you call it _your_ bedroom!” says Bow clasping his hands, voice cracked with emotion. “So cute!”

“Guys” I barge in before Catra jumps at them. “Try not to give her a hard time here”

“What else are we supposed to do?” laughs Glimmer. “The war is over, we deserve some fun!”

“So do I, Sparkles” snaps Catra, still looking irritated. “Our ideas of _fun_ are quite different, though”

“Okay, okay, truce!” I shout, standing between the two of them. “Do you think we can have breakfast all together without you two trying to kill each other? Seriously, you seemed to be getting along quite well when Prime was around”

“That’s the point” sneers Glimmer. “We had a common enemy then. Now we don’t! There’s nothing keeping me from bothering her to death”

“That’s what best friends are for!” exclaims Bow, daring to hug them both, causing their heads to touch. Glimmer laughs in Catra’s face as she keeps grinding her teeth, but I can tell she’s _almost_ okay with it, since Melog’s mane hasn’t turned red or spiky. Yet. I realize I still don’t know what they told Catra. Well, I guess I’ll have to wait until we’re alone again. Looking forward to it.


	8. Catra

I swear I’m going to kill Sparkles and Arrow Boy, sooner or later. The only reason they’re still breathing is Adora’s dumb smile when she sees I’m letting them tease me. Ugh, the things we do for love.

“So” starts Sparkles, “since the two of you left earlier yesterday, there’s something I think we should discuss, together”

“Wow, that’s very democratic of you” I sneer.

Adora gives me a please-stop-I’m-begging-you look, so I snort and let Sparkles go on.

“Bright Moon has always been very democratic, Horde Scum” she replies. “Anyway, the thing is… I locked Hordak up in the prison room”

I widen my eyes, giving Sparkles a low-key approving look. “I can’t believe you actually did something smart! That was totally unexpected”

“Catra…” snorts Adora, face-palming.

“I mean it!” I reply. “It makes perfect sense. You can’t seriously expect people to be okay with Hordak being on the loose”

“I’m not saying he should be on the loose, Catra” she says, shaking her head. “I think Glimmer made the right choice. I’m just worried about how Entrapta might take this”

“Well, she’ll have to deal with it, for now” says Glimmer, looking away. “I can’t risk anyone’s safety. I’m responsible for the people of Bright Moon. And for Etheria, too”

I must say authority fits Sparkles quite well. She’s really getting the hang of being a queen. I guess we have something in common, after all. I enjoyed power too. Sure, I would have enjoyed it more if Adora had been by my side all along and if I hadn’t driven away all the people around me in the process. But I loved being in charge. And I think Sparkles loves it too, although she would never admit it.

“It’s okay, Glimmer” says Bow, placing his hands on her shoulders. These two are a couple, aren’t they? “We’re here to support you”

Sparkles’s cheeks turn red, confirming my hypothesis. Adora and I exchange a knowing look.

“So, if you have already made a decision, what is there to discuss?” asks Adora.

“I just wanted to make sure you guys agreed with it” replies Sparkles. “Actually… I also want to hear Catra’s opinion on Hordak”

Now they’re all looking at me, which makes me kind of nervous. “What? My opinion? Why?”

“Because you spent a lot of time with him” explains Sparkles. “You’re the one that knows him best around here”

“Well, actually Entrapta⸺”

“Yeah, I know, but she’s not exactly a reliable source since she has a crush on him”

“She does??” exclaims Adora, looking shocked.

“You’re such an idiot” I chuckle. “You’re not the best at noticing when someone is in love, are you?”

She stares at me and one second later she’s blushing with a dumb smile that somehow warms me up.

“Anyway, Catra” resumes Sparkles “I want you to talk to him”

“Why? Do you think he would tell _me_ anything? Hordak never trusted me” I can’t believe I’m still so bitter over Hordak. I wish I could erase the time I wasted trying to win his favor. I did my best to impress him, to earn his trust, to prove myself worthy. I wish I had realized earlier that I had nothing to prove, not to him, anyway. Nor to Shadow… Weaver. The memory of her sacrifice flashes through my mind, making me shiver. She said she was proud of me… but was she, really?

“Hey, are you okay?” Adora’s voice brings me back to reality. She must have noticed I was mind-wandering. She’s pretty good at it, I’ll give her that. 

“Yeah, I just…” I sigh and turn to Sparkles. “Look, I can talk to him, I can ask him whatever you want, but I don’t think he’s going to tell me anything. He… we had a fight, before Prime took us”

“What happened?” asks Bow, looking concerned.

“I…” I lower my eyes, feeling uncomfortable at the thought of what I did. “I made him believe that Entrapta had betrayed us. When he found out I had actually sent her to Beast Island… well, he didn’t take it well”

“Wow” exclaims Bow with nervous laughter. “You do have a lot of nerve”

“I’m not proud of it, okay?” I snap. “I’m just saying that Hordak hates me just as much as I hate him. I might not be the best option here, that’s all”

Sparkles sighs deeply, looking discouraged. “I need to know if he’s planning something. I can’t let him go, definitely, but I can’t keep him in here forever, either. I don’t like having him around”

“I don’t think he’s going to try anything” says Adora, crossing her arms. “He saw what She-Ra did to Prime, he knows he has no chance against us”

“I still think he could cause trouble” replies Sparkles, “ _especially_ if he gets to work with Entrapta! I have to make sure he’s on our side before letting her see him”

“Glimmer, we can trust Entrapta” says Bow, in a reassuring tone. “I know she can be… _difficult_ , but she would never do anything to hurt us. Not anymore, at least. She has found her place, and it’s with us. You have to give her a chance. If we trust Catra, there’s no reason we shouldn’t trust Entrapta”

I flatten my ears, keeping my tail between my legs. He’s right, sure. They accepted me just because Adora told them to, but Entrapta doesn’t have anyone vouching for her.

“He’s right, Sparkles” I murmur. “Entrapta… she’s good. I was horrible to her and she still forgave me, without even thinking about it. She deserves a chance, as much as I do”

I turn to look at Adora and I can tell from her expression that she’s… proud of me.

“Fine, fine” sighs Sparkles. “I’ll give her a chance. But I still need to talk to Hordak first”

“Let me handle this” says Adora, with a confident smile. “Or rather, let She-Ra handle this. I’ll make sure he understands exactly who he would be messing with, in case he tries anything”

“You’re such a show-off!” I chuckle.

“I’m with you on this one” agrees Sparkles.

“I think She-Ra’s new look is actually awesome” says Bow, stars in his eyes. “If my outfit were _that_ cool, I’d show-off too!”

“Well, I’m pretty sure it was inspired by all of you guys” says Adora, smiling. “I didn’t realize it at first, but… Glimmer’s wings, Bow’s heart, Catra’s mask… they’re all in there”

I blush at the thought of that. I had noticed the tiara looked a lot like my mask, sure, but hearing it from Adora means it’s true, I wasn’t just imagining it. Which means… I’m not only a part of Adora, I’m also a part of She-Ra. No wonder I find her new look definitely… _better_ than the first one. I’m not sure ‘better’ is the word I’m looking for here, though.

“We’re all in there because we’ll always be there for you” says Bow, giving Adora a warm smile. “We’re the Best Friend Squad”

He’s never going to stop saying that, is he? Though, I must admit I don’t mind it. As much as I try to convince myself otherwise, I like hanging out with these dummies, after all.

“Alright, then” says Adora, giving all of us a confident look. “Let’s go and show him”

She raises her arm, parallel to the ground, and opens her hand. Oh my god, she’s going to do it. She gives me a quick, alluring look that makes me gulp and blush at the same time. She-Ra’s sword materializes in her hand, she lifts it towards the ceiling and cries: “For the honor of Grayskull!”

A blinding flash of light blazes all around Adora, forcing me to close my eyes. When I reopen them, I see She-Ra, the eight-foot-tall badass version of Adora, basically. I’ve spent so much time making fun of She-Ra’s ‘first form’ that I can barely accept the fact that this one is just… so… _powerful_. I find myself staring at her, all of her: her ponytail, the shiny tiara that totally looks like my mask, her arms, her chest, her waist and… her eyes, now vividly blue, looking at me the exact same way they did when she transformed back at the Heart. It takes me a couple seconds to realize my mouth is still wide-open. I immediately shut it, cursing myself for looking so dumb, especially in front of Sparkles and Arrow Boy. They don’t seem to have noticed it, though, thank goodness. They’re looking at She-Ra too. It’s hard not to look at her.

“Okay, guys” she says, resting her sword on her massive shoulder, looking more confident than ever. Which makes it even more difficult to stop blushing. “Let’s show Hordak who’s the boss”


	9. Adora

When we enter the spare room we find Hordak sitting on the magic seal that prevents him from moving away. It reminds me of when Shadow Weaver was there, in the exact same place, confined by the same spell. She was dying, after using all her powers to come to me… And now she’s gone…

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I can’t let this distract me, not now. We move closer to Hordak and I kneel so that our eyes are on the same level.

“I knew you would come” he says quietly. “I know what you are going to say”

“Oh, but you don’t” I reply in a cold, menacing tone. I think I’ll never get used to how confident and powerful I feel when I’m _this_ She-Ra. In the previous form, the First Ones sword was probably restricting my powers, because I wasn’t nearly as strong as I am now. This, right now, is who I was supposed to be from the start, this is She-Ra’s full potential. And it feels awesome.

“I want to make sure you get this straight, Hordak” I continue, narrowing my eyes. “You’ve spent all these years spreading destruction all over Etheria, killing innocent people, taking kids from their families just to raise them as Horde soldiers. Lying to them. Manipulating them. The cadets in the Horde were never evil people, but _you_ were. _You_ made them feel like they had no other choice, _you_ made them feel like their families had forgotten them and they had nothing, no other home, no other purpose than to serve you. But let me tell you” I lift his chin with the flat side of my sword. “This is over. I will make sure you _never_ get your hands on Etheria again. And if you ever _,_ ” I lean closer to him, grinding my teeth, “ _ever_ touch Catra, I swear to you, it will be the last thing you do”

I can tell from the look on his face that he’s quite impressed. Or scared. Or both. Good, this means the message got across.

Glimmer draws closer, looking down on Hordak. Even if she’s standing and I’m kneeling, we’re basically at the same height. That’s funny.

“Listen, Hordak” she says in a tone of command. “I would personally like to lock you up and throw away the key, but I have a feeling that Entrapta would give me a hard time if I did” I notice Hordak’s expression slightly softens when he hears Entrapta’s name. “And since she thinks that you could be useful, somehow, I will give her a chance to see you, mostly because otherwise she won’t give me a break, and I really need that now. But I will have my guards on you _all the time_ , got it?”

“And make sure you don’t try any of your games with her” I add. “If you try to turn her against us⸺”

“I understand!” he snaps suddenly. “There is no need to keep threatening me. I have no intention to do harm. I lost it all. My army is gone, the Fright Zone is in ruins. Why do you think I would try anything? My only purpose, this whole time, was to reach Horde Prime to prove him I was worthy. I have nothing to prove anymore. And you defeated him. I am not so reckless to challenge you”

“Good” I say, standing up. “That’s very sensible of you”

“But I have a request” he says, standing up in turn. “I would like your permission to work with Entrapta”

“Here we go again” grunts Glimmer. “And what exactly would the two of you work on? A new secret weapon to threaten Etheria, maybe?”

“I told you, I have no intention to do harm”

“And you expect us to believe you??” Catra barges in, coming forward. She looks tense. “You built a whole army from scratch, you had nothing when you first got here, just like now. And still you managed to almost destroy Etheria”

“I could not have done it without your help, Force Captain” he sneers.

Catra freezes and a moment later she extends her claws, ready to jump at him.

“Catra, no” I put my hands on her shoulders, gently squeezing them. She looks at me and I see all the rage and the pain in her mismatched eyes. “Don’t let him upset you. You’re stronger than that” She flattens her ears and looks away, and all I want to do right now is hold her and kiss her and tell her it’s okay. But this is not the time to do it. This is the time to make sure Hordak understands who he’s messing with.

I turn to Hordak and seize him by the collar, lifting him from the floor. “Did I stutter when I told you not to touch Catra?” I growl.

“I did not _touch_ her”

I squeeze his collar harder. “Don’t get smart with me. I’m not good at controlling my powers when I’m angry” I feel my eyes flashing. “I can end you, just like I ended Prime. Don’t you forget it”

At this point, he seems to realize I’m serious about this, as he grunts and looks away, submissive. I slam him to the ground, just to teach him a lesson.

“We can’t trust him” resumes Catra, moving closer to me. “He has built an empire out of nothing before, he might do it again”

“I told you” replies Hordak, grinding his teeth. “I have no interest in conquering Etheria. I turned against Prime! You were not there to see it, but Entrapta⸺”

“What do you want from her?” asks Glimmer, interrupting him. “She’s too naïve to see you for who you are, but we aren’t. So, I’m not going to ask this twice: what do you want from Entrapta? Why do you want to work with her?”

Hordak hesitates. He lowers his eyes as if he’s trying to find the right words. I had never seen him like this. He looks… vulnerable.

“She…” he murmurs, eyes fixed on the floor. “She is my friend. She did not help me because she was told to, but because she wanted to. She never betrayed me. And she looked for me when I was back with Prime. My memory had been erased but I was still able to remember her. When Prime ordered me to kill her, I refused. I defied his will. I made a choice, _for myself_ , for the first time. I realized who I am, I found my own identity. And I accepted it, I accepted my imperfections. And for that I must thank Entrapta. I would never do her wrong. Never”

At this point I’m just stunned. I literally just found out that Entrapta has a crush on Hordak, but I wasn’t definitely expecting Hordak to have a crush on her too! And he seems honest too! I look at Glimmer, who looks just as confused as I am. Bow, on the other hand, doesn’t seem surprised at all.

“I think he’s telling the truth, guys” he says, coming forward. “Plus, having him on our side would really help us improve our tech”

“We’ve been doing just fine with you and Entrapta” replies Glimmer.

“If we really want to bring magic back to the universe, we’re going to need all the help we can” he insists.

“Let’s discuss this outside” I interrupt them. “We’re done here” I give Hordak one last threatening look and then lead the others outside.

As soon as Catra closes the door behind her back, she snaps: “Please, tell me you’re not seriously thinking about trusting him”

I sigh, shrugging my shoulders. “I don’t know, Catra. He seemed honest about Entrapta”

“I have an idea!” says Bow, looking radiant. “I could be the one keeping an eye on them! If Hordak and Entrapta want to work together, I’ll be their assistant. I’m not nearly as good as them, but I could learn a lot while making sure Hordak doesn’t try anything, just in case Entrapta is too… _distracted_ to keep her guard up!”

I cross my arms, reflecting on it. “That’s not bad, actually”

“And what if it gets dangerous?” says Glimmer, looking worried about Bow. “What if Hordak tries to get rid of you?”

“I’ll be on the alert all the time, don’t worry”

“It could work” I agree. “What do you think, Catra?”

She looks annoyed, but also kind of discouraged. “It doesn’t matter what I think, you have already decided, haven’t you?” She turns and runs away before I can even reply.

“Catra, wait!”

Glimmer sighs. “She’s kind of right. Maybe we’re just crazy”

“I’ll go check on her” I say, already running after her. “We’ll discuss this later!”

It doesn’t take me long to reach her. She has always been much faster than me, as Adora, but She-Ra can easily catch up.

“Catra, stop!” I scream when I see her down the corridor. She tries to speed up the pace, but I take a leap and grab her legs, knocking her to the ground.

“Just⸺Leave me!” she snaps, trying to wriggle out. But my grip on her wrists is iron.

“Catra, you can’t run away every time something bothers you!” I tell her. “You can talk to me! I’ll listen!”

“I don’t like this, okay?” she replies, angrily. “I don’t like having Hordak around. I don’t want to see him, I don’t want to talk to him, and I don’t⸺”

“It’s because of what he said, isn’t it?” I murmur, cupping her hands. “That he couldn’t have conquered Etheria without your help. That’s why you’re upset”

She looks at me, helpless, tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry” she whispers. “It’s just… I hate that he’s right. He wouldn’t have got this far without my help. I will never forgive myself for that”

I lower my eyes, watching Catra’s hands shivering into mine. “You will” I tell her in a quiet voice. “If I can forgive myself for leaving you, you can forgive yourself for that”

She stares at me with fondness and gives me a warm smile.

“Don’t let Hordak provoke you” I tell her. “I will personally make sure he doesn’t, but if he does I swear⸺”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll kill him” she chuckles, already looking more relaxed. “You really made a scene in there, didn’t you? You’re _so_ protective!”

I smile, proud of myself. “No one messes with my girlfriend”

I freeze the exact moment I say that word. Catra freezes too. We stare at each other, in silence, unable to move. I feel my blood rushing to my cheeks, which I’m pretty sure are turning purple right now, and one moment later I feel my body transforming back to Adora. Then Catra does something I was not expecting at all: she burst out laughing.

“Why are you laughing??” I ask her, redder than ever.

“You should have seen your face!” she replies. “You were like: ‘oooooh, noooo, why did I say that?!’ You were panicking!”

“I… I wasn’t!” I deny, starting to laugh. “You were the one who was panicking!”

“Me? Not at all!”

“Yeah, sure, you panic every time I transform now”

“That’s not true!” She gives me a shove that knocks me to the ground and then she jumps on top of me. Seriously, again? I should definitely stick to She-Ra’s form to prevent this.

“I like it, by the way” she says, starting to purr.

“What?”

“You calling me your girlfriend”

I feel like I’m melting on the floor, like ice exposed to heat. I mean, I _am_ actually exposed to heat: Catra’s hot. I mean warm, she’s warm, like all cats.

“You know” I say with a flirty smile, “You can call me that too”

Catra blushes and smiles back at me. She looks beautiful. “I know, dummy. I know”


	10. Scorpia

Wake up: check. I’m in one of the guest rooms in Bright Moon. Glimmer said we could stay overnight and honestly I had literally nowhere else to go, so I decided to stay. I must say this bed is way more comfortable than the ones we had in the Fright Zone. Too bad I kind of tore the mattress apart with my stinger last night when I rolled over. I mean, it wasn’t intentional, Glimmer will understand. That’s what happens when your beds are too soft! Now I get why the ones in the Fright Zone were made of concrete: at least they were sturdy!

Anyway. Make bed: uhm, kind of check. I’ll cover the rip in the mattress with a blanket. That will do, for now.

Looking sharp: I always look sharp, so, check.

Breathe in new day: I guess you could say ‘breathe in new life’, because things are going to be soooo different from now on. That’s why the breath I take is deeper than usual. Check.

Push down doubts and insecurities… I turn to look at the nightstand where I laid the flower Perfuma gave me last night when we said goodnight: it’s a cherry blossom. She made it for me. She said cherry blossoms represent both vulnerability and tenacity. She said they remind her of me because my positive energy is what makes me vulnerable but also determined. It’s both my weakness and my strength, if that makes any sense. I pick up the blossom and place it behind my right ear, hoping it won’t fall down. I look at myself in the mirror and I repeat, out loud: “Push down doubts and insecurities: check”. Now, I’m ready to go.

I head to the dining room where we ate yesterday, hoping to find someone there. This castle is way too big to go around on your own, I definitely want some company. Maybe Perfuma is already having breakfast there…

When I enter the room, however, I see no trace of her: instead, I find Catra, Adora, Glimmer, and Bow drinking something I can’t quite see from here. Catra seems to enjoy it _a lot_ , considering the look on her face.

“Hey, guys!” I greet them, raising my gigantic claw. “Good morning!”

“Oh, hey there, Scorpia!” exclaims Bow, grinning at me. “Come here, there’s some chocolate milk for you too!”

“Choco-what?” I ask, having no idea what he’s talking about. The food outside the Fright Zone is so complicated, there are so many things that are not bar-shaped, so many colors, consistencies, flavors… I’ll never get used to that.

“It’s good, trust me” says Catra, looking at me in a strange way. She seems… embarrassed, uncomfortable, but she’s doing her best to smile at me. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her like this. “Actually” she adds, “I think this is the _best_ thing I’ve ever tasted!”

I smile back and go sit right next to her. Adora pours this light-brown liquid into a large, empty mug and passes it to me. Well, the smell is good! I take a sip, swallow, and open my eyes in awe: it’s so sweet!

“This is amazing!” I exclaim, enthusiastic. “I would have left the Fright Zone way earlier if I had known you guys were having _this_ for breakfast!”

“Same here” says Catra, chuckling. “I could drink this all day, I wouldn’t get tired of it”

“I thought cats weren’t supposed to have chocolate” says Glimmer, mocking Catra.

“I am not a cat, Sparkles” she replies, looking somewhere between annoyed and amused.

“Oh my god why didn’t I think of that??” gasps Adora, looking at Catra in a panic. “Are you sure you _can_ have chocolate?”

“Adora” she growls, taking a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “I am _not_ a cat! Not entirely, anyway. I can have anything I want, okay? I’m not going to be sick, don’t panic”

Adora doesn’t seem reassured at all, as she keeps giving Catra a worried look. Glimmer, on the other hand, seems to enjoy the situation.

“You _do_ act like a cat sometimes, though” I say, smiling at Catra. “Do you remember when you sensed Entrapta’s smell in the pipes of the Fright Zone? You were definitely acting like a cat then!”

“Scorpia, not you, too” she snaps. Then something strange happens: the exact moment she realizes she has been a bit harsh with me, which is something I’m pretty used to, she flattens her ears and looks at me mortified. “Sorry, I⸺I didn’t mean to. You’re right” she smiles. “I know I do act like a real cat sometimes”

Wow. That was unexpected. I’m so used to Catra being harsh that I wasn’t even taking it personally, but the fact that she has just _apologized_ for that is kind of crazy. She doesn’t just _look_ different: she _is_ different.

“It’s okay, wildcat” I wink at her.

“That’s how you call her?” Adora chuckles. “It’s so _cute!_ Can I call you that, too?”

“No way” she replies, looking at me and winking back. “It’s _our_ thing”

If I weren’t sure I’m awake (and I’m pretty sure I’m awake because that’s the first thing I checked this morning), I would say this is totally a dream. Did Catra really just say that we have ‘our thing’? And she _winked_ at me? I’m probably making a stupid face with heart-shaped eyes, because Catra laughs and tries to play it down: “Don’t let this go to your head now, alright?” How can she expect me not to let this go to my head?? She’s basically just admitted we are _friends!_ What happened to her? I look at Adora, who seems quite offended.

“What, are you jealous, princess?” Catra mocks her.

“What?? No!” she denies, crossing her arms. “I’m not _jealous_ , but you’ve never let me give you any nicknames!”

“That’s because you gave me my name in the first place, silly!” she replies with a warm smile. “Isn’t that enough?”

“You did??” I gasp, surprised. “I had no idea!”

“Well… I found her in a box” recalls Adora with a nostalgic smile. “I think the Horde had just got back from a raid, somewhere, and she was among the things they took with them. I’m not sure, though, I was basically a toddler”

“I don’t remember much of that day” Catra continues. “I was too little to even remember my original name. The only memory I can visualize clearly is Adora’s dumb face when she opened that box”

They look at each other and I feel my heart melting. I realize I never had a chance with Catra: her heart was with Adora the whole time, even when she tried to kill her. I’m so glad they found their way back to each other, anyway. They’ve got such a real bond… I wonder if I could ever have something like that with Perfuma… I blush and look away at the thought of that.

“So you named her?” asks Bow in a cracked voice. “How did you come up with such a _cute_ name?”

“Well, she looked like a cat, so…” says Adora with an embarrassed smile. “But I also wanted to give her something of mine, so I added the last syllable of my name”

“That’s _so_ sappy!” laughs Glimmer. “I’ll add it to my reasons-for-teasing-Catra list”

“You’re not in the best position to speak about names, Sparkles” replies Catra with a sneer.

“I think none of us is, actually” I exclaim, realizing just now that all our names are kind of cheesy. My mums could have definitely come up with something more original than ‘Scorpia’. Everyone in the room bursts out laughing at my joke, which was not even a joke but just the truth, but it makes me smile. It was ages since I had last seen Catra laugh. I guess all she needed to be happy was to be back with Adora. That’s not something I could give her, but I did my best to be a good friend. That’s just what I do.

“Anyway, do you mind if we…” asks me Catra, looking extremely uncomfortable but resolute. “Uhm, can we talk alone for a sec?”

“Yeah, sure!” I reply, taken by surprise.

Catra stands up and gives Adora a soft smile: “I’ll be right back”

She gives her an encouraging nod and goes back to her chocolate milk. I follow Catra outside, then she closes the door behind her back and takes a deep breath. Her eyes are fixed on the floor, her ears flattened. She looks super nervous. Did I do anything wrong? What is this about?

“Look, we haven’t had the time to talk about…” she starts, avoiding eye contact. “When we were back in the Fright Zone… I mean, when I told you those things and you… _left_ … I wanted to tell you that I… I am sorry, for real. The way I treated you… Why did you just forgive me like it was nothing? You should be mad at me!”

Okay, I should definitely check if I’m awake right now. Did that really come from Catra’s mouth? Or am I just hearing things? Maybe there was some kind of drug in that chocolate milk. Or maybe… maybe she has _really_ changed. She looks so vulnerable and fragile, I’ve never seen her like that. She can’t even look at me.

“Hey, wildcat” I tell her in a reassuring tone. She finds the courage to look at me in the eyes. “I’ve never been mad at you. Never. I know you were suffering. I know you didn’t mean to say those things. The only reason I left is that I realized I couldn’t help you. I couldn’t break through your walls, no matter what. There was no point in staying”

“But you said…” she murmurs, her tail between her legs, “You said I was a bad friend”

“You were, Catra” I admit. “You were, but still I wasn’t mad. I was… hurt”

I can see Catra’s eyes filling up with tears. She lowers them once again, trying to hide it. “I… I’m so sorry, Scorpia. It’s all my fault, I drove you away, but… I want you to know this” She looks at me and she does her best to smile. “You were never useless, or weak. You were always brave, strong, loyal, and you were… you _are_ the best friend I could ever ask for”

A strange feeling spreads through my entire body, warming me up to the tip of my stinger. At this point, if this is a dream I’ll just enjoy it. But in case it isn’t, there’s just one thing to do.

“You’re forgetting something, wildcat” I tell her, smiling. She gives me an interrogative look before I seize her with my claws and lift her off the ground, holding her against my chest. “I give great hugs”


	11. Catra

When Scorpia finally lets me down, I feel lighter. Talking to her and getting to apologize for the horrible way I treated her makes me feel so much better. I still think she forgave me too easily, though, just like Adora: it must be a sort of ‘princess’ thing, I guess. But it doesn’t matter, because I’ll make it up to Scorpia too. I owe her.

“Let’s go back inside” I tell her, smiling. “I’m not done with that chocolate milk”

“Me neither! I was just getting started!” she replies, grinning.

We get back inside and return to our seats. I can’t believe I find Adora and Arrow Boy still discussing whether chocolate is actually toxic for me.

“Yeah, I know she said she’ll be fine” Adora is whispering in his ear, hoping I won’t hear her. What a dumbhead, she should know my hearing is _actually_ feline. “But what if she’s saying that just to get more milk? That’s something she would do!”

“Is it?” I ask, approaching her.

She gulps and turns to look at me with the dumbest innocent smile ever. “Heeeeeey” she exclaims. “That’s, uh, that’s not what I meant, I was, you know, just thinking…”

“That’s your problem, Adora” I mock her. “Thinking”

She snorts and pouts, looking somewhere between offended and angry. Sparkles bursts out laughing, though. I like that she’s always on my side about teasing Adora.

I take my seat, Scorpia next to me, and return to my terrific milk, hoping they’ll let me drink in peace.

“So, what’s our plan for today?” asks Bow.

“You guys can’t go five minutes without planning something, can you?” I comment, sipping loudly.

“Eh eh eh” Bow chuckles, running his hand through his hair. “That’s just how we are”

“I actually have an idea” says Sparkles, looking radiant. “I think we totally deserve a day off, before starting to plan anything else. So why don’t we go to Mystacor? I bet Catra would _love_ the thermal baths”

“The what?” I ask, raising my eyebrow. I have no idea what she’s talking about.

“Yeah, those are pretty cool!” Adora agrees, looking at me with excitement. “It’s like a small, round pool filled with hot water and⸺”

“Water??” I shriek, my tail puffing up. “No way, forget it”

“Oh, come on” Adora begs me. “I had doubts too at first, but I assure you it really feels good! Especially if you’re next to someone. Like, last time Glimmer was leaning against me and we⸺”

Adora suddenly freezes, widening her eyes. She must have noticed the fierce look of my face. “And you what?” I encourage her to continue, acting perfectly calm but raging inside.

Sparkles and Arrow Boy are doing their best not to laugh, but I ignore them and keep my intimidating eyes on Adora, who is starting to sweat.

“Uhm, nothing, we…” she mumbles, trying not to look at me. “We were just, you know, chilling…”

“Zero feet apart” adds Sparkles with a cough.

“Yeah, I mean no, well…” Adora looks so hopeless I almost pity her. “Whatever, we were just relaxing ah ah” Quite a nervous laughter. I wag my tail up and down, unable to control it, and narrow my eyes even more. Adora gulps.

“Sooooo” Scorpia barges in. “This place seems pretty cool! How can we get there?”

“Good question!” immediately answers Adora, looking extremely relieved to change the subject. “It’s super easy. Glimmer can teleport us on the cliff right above the clouds and from there all we have to do is jump. Then we’ll land on a sort of flying rock that will take us right there”

Scorpia looks totally bewildered.

“That’s the long way, actually” says Sparkles. “I could simply teleport all of you right inside the steam grotto, but that would take all the fun away!”

“Why are things with you guys always so weird?” I sigh, hopeless. “Anyway, I’m not coming. I hate the idea of some stupid hot bath”

“Come on, Catra” Adora looks at me with her stupid puppy dog eyes and I find it really hard not to surrender. “It will be fun, I promise”

I roll my eyes, shrugging. “Fine, whatever”

“Yay! Let’s go then!” exclaims Adora, standing up. “Glimmer, we should ask the others too!”

“Who else stayed here last night?” asks Scorpia.

“Well, Entrapta got back to her castle” answers Bow. “She said something about a failed experiment she wanted to correct. However, all the other kingdoms were kind of destroyed during the war, so all the other princesses stayed here. It’s strange that they haven’t got up already, actually. Especially Perfuma, she usually wakes up with the sun for her morning meditation”

“I guess we are all dead-tired” says Adora. “The only reason why I didn’t sleep in is that Melog woke us up, but I wouldn’t have minded staying in bed for a little while”

“I wonder why” Sparkles murmurs while sipping, winking at me. I feel my cheeks turning red. I’m gonna kill Sparkles one day. That’s for sure.

“I think Perfuma is awake actually” says Scorpia, strangely avoiding eye contact with all of us. “She told me she usually stays in her room for a while before having breakfast. She likes to meditate and stretch a lot, and she leaves her room only when she is filled with positive energy, so I guess she’s still in the middle of her morning routine”

I wonder how she knows so many things about Perfuma. Maybe they’re more than friends? Well, I hope so, she deserves that.

“So, should we wake the others up and let them know we’re going to Mystacor?” asks Bow.

“Maybe we can go there first and then I’ll be back for the others” says Sparkles. “I can teleport back and forth, that’s not a problem. Let’s let them rest and take things slowly. I’ll go and tell my father about it and then we’ll leave, okay?”

I feel awkward when she mentions her father. If I hadn’t set off that portal, she would have a mother too. I feel my chest tensing at the thought of that. I look at Spar… Glimmer, and I can see the resemblance with Queen Angella. Did she really forget it’s my fault? Or is she okay with it only because I saved her from Prime? She doesn’t seem to notice I’m staring at her with a mortified look though, because she is still smiling. “Just give me one sec, okay?” she says right before teleporting.

“I can’t believe she has finally learned to tell her parents where she’s going” says Bow with a tender smile. “I mean, parent. Anyway, Queen Angella would be proud”

I flatten my ears, looking down. Adora’s hand gently touches my shoulder.

“Hey” she murmurs. “It’s okay”

“No, it’s not” I whisper, shaking my head. “It’s my fault and she knows that. Why is she okay with that? Why is she okay with _me?”_

“It’s not up to me to answer that” she replies. “But I can tell you she would probably like to talk about it, with you”

“I can’t. I don’t have the guts”

“You do” says Bow, looking at me with an encouraging smile. “You should do it. I’m sure it will make you feel better. Both of you”

“Yeah, apologizing feels good” says Scorpia, nudging my shoulder. “Doesn’t it?”

I look at all of them, all of their faces. So supportive, so forgiving, so kind. Do I really deserve this? Do I deserve them? I’m not sure. But one day, maybe, I will.

“So, are you coming with us?” Bow asks Scorpia.

“Oh, no” she answers. “I’d rather wait for Perfuma. You know, she said she wanted to spend the day together, so I don’t want to leave without her”

Okay, they’re definitely more than friends. Good to know.

“And where is your adorable magic cat, by the way?” Scorpia asks me.

“Oh, in our room, sleeping” I reply. “You know, cats can sleep up to sixteen hours a day”

“Now I know where you took that from” sneers Adora.

“Shut up” I chuckle, elbowing her.

“Alright then” says Bow. “Let’s wait until Glimmer⸺ARGH!” his voice cracks when Sparkles teleports right onto his lap. They stare at each other, blushing, then Sparkles teleports back to her seat. Guess she could have used her legs this time.

“Eh eh eh, that wasn’t intentional, sorry” she nervously laughs.

“It’s… uh… it’s okay!” exclaims Arrow Boy with an unusually high-pitched voice.

Adora and I exchange a knowing look.

“So, are you ready guys?” says Sparkles, putting herself together. “Give me your hands”

Ugh, I hate teleporting. But I guess I have no choice.

“I’ll wait here for Perfuma” Scorpia tells Sparkles. “You guys have fun in the meantime!”

“I’ll be back for you in a few hours” says Sparkles, winking.

Bow places his hand on her shoulder while Adora and I grab her hands. I close my eyes and one moment later I feel the most horrible sensation ever: my body dissolving, turning upside down at the speed of light and then recreating in a completely different location. We’re standing on a cliff, surrounded by literally nothing. Beneath us, a carpet of pink clouds.

“Oh, you weren’t joking” I realize. “This _really_ looks insane”

Adora grabs my hand and gives me an encouraging smile. “Ready to do this?”

“Hell no”

Before I can say anything else, she jerks forward, dragging me with her.

“Adora!!” I cry right before we jump into the void.

I scream my head off, all my fur electrified, as gravity pulls me down. I close my eyes, hoping Adora and I will survive this so that I can kill her myself. Then, unexpectedly, my feet hit the ground. I open my eyes, panting, and I find myself standing on a giant, floating rock. I realize just now that I’m squeezing Adora’s hand so hard it’s almost turning purple.

“Wow” she mocks me.

“You⸺”

I don’t finish my sentence because Sparkles and Bow land right next to us, making me jump.

“What, are you freaking out?” Sparkles giggles.

“I’m so gonna kill you all” I growl, releasing Adora’s hand.

“Wait for this” exclaims Arrow Boy right before the flying rock starts floating in the clouds.

“This is crazy!” I say, grasping Adora’s hand once again. I can’t help it when I’m scared.

Thank goodness this flying trip doesn’t last long, because our rock collides with another giant one in a matter of seconds. We jump onto it and, luckily, this one seems pretty stationary.

“Here we are” Sparkles announces, raising her arms. I don’t have good memories of this place, though. Last time we were here, Adora got the failsafe and… Whatever, it’s over now. It’s just a stupid floating island.

“Did you warn your aunt we would come?” Bow asks Sparkles.

“Nope” she replies. “I get the feeling that if she sees us, she’s going to take Catra to a complete tour of the castle, and I can’t bear it right now, so I suggest we teleport right to the thermal baths. I’ll go look for my aunt later”

“Then why didn’t we just teleport there??” I snort, crossing my arms.

“Told you already, Horde scum” she winks. “That would have taken all the fun away”

I’m ready to jump at her, but the exact moment I leap off Sparkles surrounds all of us with her arms and we teleport, _again_. One horrible second later, we’re in a huge grotto with light violet tints, filled with round, natural pools emitting steam. The temperature here is so hot it makes me wish to remove my clothes right away.

“Oh, I missed this place so much!” Bow exclaims with a cracked voice. “Uh-oh”

“What?” says Adora.

“We forgot the swimwear”

“No prob” Sparkles replies. “There’s always some in the changing room. Follow me”

“Uhm, do we have to change, like, in front of everyone?” I ask, nervously scratching my arm.

“No, stupid” Sparkles chuckles. “There are separate rooms. Let’s go”

We walk down the grotto until we reach a pretty big rock tunnel on the left side. When we follow Sparkles inside, I see a long row of doors, probably leading to the changing rooms she mentioned earlier.

“Each room should have a two-piece swimwear and a towel, let me see” she says, opening a random door. “Yup!” she confirms a moment later. “Get inside and change, come on!” Then she disappears into the room and Bow enters the one to the right. Adora takes the one on the left and turns to me before entering, saying: “Call me if you need any help, ‘kay?”

“I know how to change clothes, silly, but thanks” I reply, smiling. She smiles back and closes the door behind her.

I take the room next to Adora’s, but when I enter I find out it’s not actually a room, but more like a closet carved into the rock, with just a pair of white swimwear and a towel, just like Sparkles said. I remove all of my clothes pretty quickly and put on the swimsuit shorts and the racerback bra made with intersecting bands. Damn, I feel ridiculous in this thing.

When I come out of the closet, the first thing I see is Adora in her swimwear, leaning against the rock wall, her arms crossed: she was looking away, but our eyes meet the moment she hears me opening the door. It’s been so long since I last saw her in her pajamas that I had almost forgotten the curves and shapes of her damn-perfect body, now exposed. I wonder if she’s checking me out too, since she’s blushing.

“What?” I tell her, raising my eyebrow.

“Nothing” she quickly replies, looking away with a dumb smile. “It’s just… uh… we’re pretty quick at changing, aren’t we? Glimmer and Bow are still inside”

“Guess it’s because we had no time to waste back in the cadets’ changing rooms in the Fright Zone” I recall. “It was more like: ‘You have thirty seconds to get ready, scum!’, right?”

“Yeah” she agrees, sighing. “I was always faster than you, though”

“Jut because I was too sleepy to rush things in the morning, princess” I sneer.

Then Sparkles and Bow come out, almost at the same time. What, are they synchronized or something?

“Ready for your first Best Friend Squad bath, Catra?” Arrow Boy asks me, stars in his eyes. Why is he always so excited about everything?

“Whatever, let’s get this over with” I mutter, still tense at the idea of entering a pool filled with hot water.

Sparkles and Bow run to the closest pool and literally jump inside, screaming in excitement.

“Woooooah!” Bow exclaims, letting his body slide down into the water. “I’m in heaven”

Sparkles leans her head on his shoulder, letting out a deep sigh of relief. “Me too”

“Come on, our turn now” Adora tells me, grabbing my hand and pulling me close to the pool. I gulp at the sight of the steam coming out of it.

“Are you sure this is not going to hurt?” I squeak, kind of terrified.

“Do they look hurt?” Adora mocks me, pointing at Sparkles and Arrow Boy, looking absolutely ecstatic. “Alright, let me show you” she adds, stepping into the pool first. She’s holding both my hands now. “See? It’s okay. It’s just hot, but in a good way. It will help you relax, I promise”

“I’m pretty good at relaxing without water” I object.

She gives me a please-I’m-begging-you look and all I can do is roll my eyes and surrender. I take courage and slowly immerse my right feet in the water. Suddenly, the memory of Prime’s electrified pool strikes me like thunder, freezing me on the spot. I start to shake violently, but Adora draws closer to me and puts her hand on my cheek, gently caressing it.

“Hey, it’s okay” she whispers. “You got this”

I try to calm down, taking a deep breath and concentrating on the color of her eyes. In this light, they look almost totally grey. I close my eyes, take another deep breath, and follow Adora inside the pool. When the water reaches my thighs, I feel the warmth spreading through my whole body, as the change in temperature slightly puffs up my fur. It doesn’t feel bad, though. I must admit it’s actually pretty nice.

Adora sits down, water up to her chest now, and I do the same, sitting right next to her, letting my body melt in the warmth of the water.

“Okay, this is actually pretty good” I confess, relaxing.

“Told you” Adora whispers. “Hey, come here” She opens her arms, inviting me to lean against her chest. I flatten my ears and smile, probably blushing. I go sit right between her legs, my back turned, my head leaned on her breast. Adora wraps her arms around me, resting her head on mine. A jolt of pleasure runs through my body, relaxing every inch of it. I don’t even try to hold back my purring.

“How’s that?” she whispers in my ear.

I smile, closing my eyes. “Pretty good, princess”


	12. Adora

Hot water, steam, and Catra’s purr, all combined together to create the most relaxing moment ever. I thought I didn’t enjoy relaxing, but actually I could get used to _this_. This should definitely be on our weekly schedule from now on. Glimmer and Bow are clearly loving this too: both of them with their eyes closed, Bow is mindlessly caressing Glimmer’s hair, her body leaned against his. They look so cute together.

I close my eyes and inhale Catra’s scent, running my lips through her soft hair. I’m not even thinking about it, I’m just doing what feels good. And this _does_ feel good.

“What are you doing, princess?” she whispers, her tail brushing against my thigh, making my heart race. I’m glad her back is turned so she can’t see my face right now, because I’m struggling to control my emotions. It’s like I’m becoming more and more aware of her body and mine as well. It is as if some strange gravity is constantly pulling me in her direction and I can barely resist the urge to hold her. I’m so immersed in my own thoughts I even forget to answer.

“Did the cat get your tongue?” she giggles.

“I wish” I reply in a whisper, without even realizing it’s coming out of my mouth. But when I do realize it, I bite my lip, regretting saying that. Catra’s purr suddenly stops and I curse myself for ruining another perfect moment. Catra slowly turns around and looks at me with a stunned expression.

“I mean, I…” I stutter, not really knowing what to say. As usual. I just look into her widened mismatched eyes and give her a fond smile. “I wouldn’t mind it”

Catra seems as speechless as I am, for once. She gives Glimmer and Bow a quick look, and when she makes sure their eyes are closed, she does something I wasn’t expecting at all: she puts her hands on my neck and pulls me close, then she kisses me. I feel like my insides are overheating, as if this whole situation wasn’t already hot enough. I clasp her waist and open my mouth, instinctively. Then I just do what feels good. I slide my tongue into her mouth, already open to receive me. When the tips of our tongues touch, it feels like my whole body is starting to burn. And I want more, like I can’t get enough of it. A strange flow of energy I had never perceived before runs through my body, making my eyes shine bright. When Catra pulls back, she leaves me quivering.

“Here’s your tongue” she whispers with an alluring smile. “You know, for a moment I thought you would transform”

“I thought it too” I pant, smiling. She left me just breathless. “If you kiss me like that again, it could definitely happen”

“I’ll save it for when we’re alone, princess” she replies, keeping her voice low so that Glimmer and Bow can’t hear us.

All of a sudden I remember we have another unfinished business to take care of.

“Hey, about that…” I tell her, raising my eyebrow. “You still haven’t told me what Melog said this morning”

She instantly panics, puffing up her tail and grinding her teeth. “Can we discuss this when we’re alone, please?”

“Always have an excuse, don’t you?”

“It’s not an excuse, Adora, I just⸺”

“You two, get a room” says Glimmer all of a sudden, opening just one eye. “We’re trying to relax here”

“Fine, fine” I chuckle. “I’ll shut up”. When Glimmer closes her eyes again, I lower my lips near Catra’s ear and whisper: “You’re off the hook, this time. But not for long”

Catra grunts and turns her back once more, crossing her arms and wagging her tail side to side. “It’s not like you can force me to tell you, Adora”

“Maybe I can’t” I admit, acting thoughtful. “But what about She-Ra?”

I feel Catra’s body stiffening against mine, then she lets out a low growl. “Not even She-Ra, dummy. I’m not scared of her”

“Who said I want to scare you?”

“Enough already!” snaps Glimmer, frowning at us. “I swear I’ll teleport you back to Bright Moon if you guys don’t shut up!”

“Oooh come on, Glimmer” says Bow, still keeping his eyes closed. “Let them be, they’re so cute when they fight!”

“We’re not cute!” we reply in unison. Then we exchange a quick look and blush.

“I seriously can’t believe you spent years fighting when you could have just admitted your feelings for each other” says Bow with a smile, lazily opening one eye. “That would have saved us soooo much time”

“You know me, Bow” I reply, shrugging. “I’m the punch-your-feelings-out guy”

Catra looks oddly quiet. I bet it’s because she doesn’t feel comfortable talking about this yet. Not in front of Glimmer and Bow, at least. I quickly change the subject so that she can relax a bit. “Anyway, Glimmer, have you thought about letting your dad take care of all the boring, bureaucratic stuff in Bright Moon so that you can have more free time? I mean, you’re the Queen, obviously, but he has, you know, way more years of experience. I guess you could really use his help”

“Yeah, that would be awesome!” Bow agrees, now looking more awake. “Less boring meetings, more Best Friend Squad trips!”

“I… I don’t know” she says, thoughtful. “I mean, I would definitely enjoy some more free time, but I don’t want to give up my responsibilities. I like being in charge, for once, you know? I like making decisions and hearing about my people’s problems and trying to solve them. Not as much as I like going on an adventure with you guys, of course, but I still like it. But I could definitely tell my dad to take my place in the councils when I’m gone. You know, I want to be the kind of Queen that travels across her kingdom a lot, that meets everyone, helps everyone and I… I want to rebuild Etheria, and I can’t do it if I’m always locked up in Bright Moon”

“We will rebuild it” I tell her with an encouraging smile. “Together”

“Do you… uhm…” Catra murmurs, looking uncomfortable. “Do you think we could, I don’t know, rebuild the Fright Zone too?”

It surprises me that she’s asking that. I thought she hated that place, or that she just didn’t care. Now that I think about it, although we have so many bad memories, we still grew up there. It was our first home, maybe we shouldn’t abandon it.

“The Fright Zone used to be Scorpia’s family’s kingdom, right?” Bow argues. “Maybe we could rebuild it and have her rule it! Her runestone is there anyway, that would make sense!”

“Yeah, I bet she’d love that!” Catra replies. “She deserves it. She’d make such a good ruler”

“We’ll talk to her about this, then” Glimmer agrees. “And I’ll talk to my dad about dividing our royal duties. We’ll figure it out”

“But for now, let’s just chill” says Bow, putting his arm around Glimmer’s shoulders.

Catra leans her head back against my breast, relaxing. I hold her, interlocking our fingers. Then I just close my eyes and drift off to the most peaceful sleep I’ve ever had.

The rest of the day was just as perfect. Glimmer brought basically everyone to Mystacor: Mermista seemed to enjoy the thermal baths a lot, at least until Seahawk started to sing; Perfuma decorated the pool she shared with Scorpia with water lilies, while Frosta complained about how uncomfortable she was in such a warm climate. Castaspella invited all of us for lunch and we ate so much that Bow was desperately trying to cover his bloated belly with his way-too-short top.

In the afternoon, we all went to the cloud beach to enjoy the bright, warm sunshine. Last time I thought it was kind of boring, lying down doing nothing, but this time it felt different. Catra and I shared the same beach towel, which wasn’t big enough for two, so she curled up against me and I held her tight all the time. The more time passes, the more I loosen up with her. I find myself thinking about being alone with her, like, _all the time_. I wonder if she feels the same.

When we finally get back to Bright Moon, after promising Castaspella we’ll visit her at least once a week, the sun is starting to set, painting the sky in beautiful reddish violet colors.

“I’ll go and see what Wrong Hordak is planning to cook for dinner” Glimmer says as soon as we teleport back to the dining room we had breakfast today.

“Ugh, you guys are still hungry after today’s lunch?” Bow exclaims, looking sickened.

“I’m always hungry” I reply with a proud smile.

“That’s because you’re _always_ training, Adora” Catra says, elbowing me. “This might as well be the very first day in your entire life that you just rested and did absolutely nothing”

“I’ll exercise tomorrow” I assure her.

“Why not now?” she asks, giving me a mischievous look. “Catch me if you can!” One moment later, she leaps off and runs out of the room before I can even reply.

“Catra! Damn!” I immediately run after her, following her outside and leaving Glimmer and Bow’s laughter behind me.

No matter how fast I run, I rarely manage to catch up with Catra when I start with a disadvantage, which I always do since she always cheats. But this time I feel like she’s holding herself back a little, as if she actually wanted me to catch her. She slows down whenever I’m about to do that, then she sprints again, leaving me breathless.

“Come on, Adora! I thought you were quicker!” she mocks me, laughing as she climbs out of a window.

“Catra, where are you going?” I pant, hands on my knees. “Wait!” One moment later she’s going for the roof, disappearing from my sight. “Jeez” I sigh, running after her. I hate when she does that, climbing at the speed of light I mean. I’m not a good climber and she knows that. But I also know that she likes to be followed, _especially_ when she climbs somewhere high. I climb out of the window, taking super careful steps, and jump on the roof right above, trying not to look down: Glimmer is not here to catch me if I fall. I slowly make my way to the top of the roof and reach a spot where the surface is safely flat. Catra is sitting right there, looking at me with a teasing smile.

“Hey, Adora” she says, alluringly. “Took you long enough to reach me”

“Did you really have to run to the roof?” I reply, sitting next to her. “This is way more slippery than the one in the Fright Zone, I could break my neck trying to follow you”

“That never stopped you before, did it?” she murmurs with a nostalgic smile. “You followed me anywhere back in the Fright Zone. Even though you were the slowest, clumsiest person on the planet”

“I wasn’t!” I object, acting offended. “And I’m not half-feline, anyway. Agility is not my thing”

She giggles and turns to look at the spectacular view we get from here: a bluish twilight is spreading all over Etheria, lightening up the stars and the sparkles of magic that have been floating in the air since the magic of the Heart was set free. It is so beautiful it’s hard to believe it’s real.

“Catra” I say after a few minutes of silence. “We used to talk about ruling the world together, remember?”

She turns to look at me with an interrogative look. “Yeah… I mean, that’s what I thought I wanted. But… I figured out I don’t really care about it. Not as much as I thought I would, anyway”

“Well, I was thinking that, in a certain way, we are ruling over Etheria right now. I mean… We’re with Glimmer, and she’s the Queen, we’re her closest friends, so… and then there’s She-Ra, you know⸺”

“Adora” she interrupts me. “What are you trying to say?”

I take a deep breath and look up to the sky, my eyes lost in the stars. “What if I’m not enough? We saved the planet from Prime, but everything is still in ruins. And it’s my fault. If only I had learned to transform into She-Ra earlier, I could have stopped Prime from taking over Etheria and destroying the kingdoms and then we⸺”

“Can you hear yourself right now??” she snaps, angrily. “Etheria is in ruins and you think it is _your_ fault? It seems to me that you forgot that Prime landed on Etheria and conquered it in the blink of an eye only because the Horde had already taken over it. Do I have to remind you who was in charge back then?”

“Catra, that’s not the point” I shake my head, firmly. “This is different. You had chosen your side, you were just doing what made sense to you. But I wasted so much time, trying to figure out how to transform without the sword”

“But you can do it now, without problems. So what’s the point? Why do you always have to make everything about yourself? You have to stop it, Adora, seriously. None of what happened is your fault. But you know what? You _fixed_ it. And you will rebuild Etheria too, but you don’t have to do it alone. We’re here, me and Arrow Boy and Sparkles and everyone else. We’ve got your back. But I need you to understand what I’m about to say, okay?” She places both her hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at her. “You are not responsible, for anything, for anyone. I know Shadow Weaver made you feel otherwise, but you have to snap out of it now. I don’t care if you were chosen to be a giant sword lady, She-Ra does not define who you are. Only you do. You are Adora, okay? And you get to choose, you get to be human. You’re allowed to make mistakes, you’re allowed to fail, you’re allowed to be vulnerable. But none of this makes you weak. None of this makes you less worthy, okay? You are just…”

She stops, flattening her ears, looking for the right words to say. Then she gives me a sad smile. “I’ve loved you since you were just Adora. I know this isn’t enough for you, I know you always wanted more, but all I ever wanted was…” She stops, again, letting out a deep sigh, eyes low. I take her hands off my shoulders and cup them into mine.

“Catra” I murmur, tears in my eyes. “Don’t you ever say that again”

“Say what?”

“That this isn’t enough for me. That _you_ aren’t enough for me. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. I would have never been able to transform without the sword if I hadn’t held you dying in my arms. And the whole planet would have been destroyed if you hadn’t stayed with me in the end. Don’t you get it? I would have never been enough without you. I need you, Catra. I always have”

I feel warm tears streaming down my face, as the sun sets behind a faraway hill, leaving Bright Moon in the dark. Catra looks as if she’s about to cry too, but, surprisingly, she gives me a fond smile instead. “Well, then I guess I was kind of an idiot too not to see it”

I smile, wiping out the tears on my cheeks. “What a couple” I giggle, timidly.

“The best ever, honestly” she points out, shrugging.

We laugh, together, bathing in the starlight over Bright Moon.


	13. Catra

For the first time since Adora left the Horde, we’re having a sleepover. It’s been years, but it feels like nothing has changed. Well, something _has_ changed, actually, because Sparkles and Bow are here too, but I don’t mind it that much. Melog is snoozing on Sparkles’s bed up high. Surprisingly, Sparkles and I make quite a good team. We’re playing charades against Adora and Bow, who are losing by a lot, of course. It’s Adora’s turn to mime now, but as much as she tries, Arrow Boy can’t get anything. She keeps on pointing something with her finger, making a terrible bad-guy smirk.

“Uhm, Double Trouble?” Bow guesses, clueless. Adora slaps her forehead and keeps on pointing somewhere, or something, to the right. But there’s nothing except for Sparkle’s stuff, since we’re in her room.

“Adora, you have to give me something!” Bow cries in a cracked, desperate voice. “There’s nothing there!”

She grunts, helpless. Then she mimes an evil laughter and points at the back of her neck. Oh, I get it! Too bad that Arrow Boy doesn’t make it in time because Sparkles cries: “TIME’S UP!”

Adora explodes: “Oh, come on, Bow!! It was Hordak!! I was acting _evil”_

“What??” he cries. “And what exactly were you pointing at??”

“The prison room! It’s somewhere over _there!”_ she replies, pointing her index finger in that direction, again. What a dumbhead, seriously. Not that Arrow Boy is much of a genius, either.

“Alright, our turn now” says Sparkles, getting up. “Horde scum, concentrate!”

Not that I need to try hard to beat Adora and Bow: they’re losing, like, nine to one.

Sparkles makes eye contact with me and then she starts: she holds a tuft of hair as if she was doing a ponytail, so I immediately exclaim: “Adora!”, but she shakes her head and goes on. She spreads her arms and pirouettes, then she clenches her fist and swings it side to side, as if she was holding a sword.

“Oh, She-Ra!” I giggle.

“Yeah!” Sparkles nods, winking at me.

“WHAT?” Adora snaps. “ _That_ would be She-Ra? What was that pirouette??”

“When you transform” Sparkles replies. “You kind of do that”

“You didn’t do it right” she snorts, crossing her arms. “It doesn’t look so stupid when I do that”

“Chill, princess” I chuckle, putting my arm around her neck and pulling her close. “You’re not used to losing, are you?”

“We should switch teams” she mumbles. “You and Glimmer are too strong together”

“Not bad, Sparkles” I tell her, sneering. “You _are_ good at something, it turns out”

“We should definitely switch teams” says Bow, looking discouraged. “It’s impossible to guess what Adora is thinking about”

“Welcome to my world” I reply.

We all burst out laughing, including Adora. I realize I had missed making her laugh, so much. Plus, having a sleepover with her friends is not as bad as I expected. I’m starting to enjoy their company, especially Sparkles’s. We’re more similar than I thought, for sure.

“So, what are we going to do now?” asks Adora. “I’m tired of charades. Let’s do something else”

“Truth or dare?” Bow suggests.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“You basically have to choose between answering a question, and that answer has to be honest, or be ready to do anything they ask you” Adora tells me.

“And how exactly would you know if I’m telling the truth or just lying to get away with it?” I ask again.

The three of them exchange a confused look. I get it. They probably never even contemplated the idea of lying during a game. Noobs.

“Lying would make the whole game pointless” Bow answers. “We usually just trust each other”

I try not to laugh in their faces. These guys are so naïve, seriously. “Alright, alright, I’ll tell the truth” I say. Adora gives me a skeptical look. “Ugh, I _promise_ ” I add.

Bow takes one of his arrows out and puts it down on the floor. “Let’s make a circle around the arrow” We obey, sitting cross-legged. “Now I will spin the arrow” he explains to me, “and when it stops, it will point at the person who will have to ask the question. Then I’ll spin it again, and that’s going to be the person who will have to answer. Got it?” I nod, so he proceeds. The arrow spins for about three seconds, then it stops and points at Sparkles. Bow spins it again and this time the tip stops right in my direction. I gulp.

“Cool” says Sparkles. “I was hoping it’d be you. Truth or dare?”

Why am I kind of nervous now? I preferred playing charades. “Uhm, dare, I guess” I reply, hoping Sparkles won’t ask me anything embarrassing.

“Alright then…” she grins. “I dare you… to… meow!”

“What?” I shriek. “Are you kidding??”

Bow places both his hands on his face and looks at me with his damn heart-shaped eyes. “Oh my god you _do_ that?” he asks, his voice cracking. “That is so cu-”

“No! I don’t!” I growl. “I don’t meow! I _speak_ , for goodness’ sake!” Bow looks extremely disappointed to hear this, like I’ve just shattered his greatest dream.

“But you can still make a fake one, you know” Sparkles suggests. “Like, just simulate”

“Why would I do that??” I cry as the fur along my spine gets electrified. “That’s so embarrassing!”

“That’s the point, Horde scum”

“No way, I’m not doing that” I refuse, letting out a low growl.

“You can’t choose, actually, that’s the game” says Adora, looking at me with a mix of pity and amusement.

“I changed my mind, then, I’ll answer your damn question” I tell Sparkles.

“Too late for that” she replies. “Just do it, Catra, come on”

It takes all my self-control not to go and strangle her. I hate this game.

“I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to switch from dare to truth, you didn’t tell me, so I should be allowed to” I try, desperately.

“Why do you always cheat?” says Adora, elbowing me.

“I’m _not_ cheating! I didn’t know all the rules! Just let me do this again!” I snap.

“Oh come on, it’s just a meow, it won’t kill anyone” she insists.

“I’d rather kill anyone”

She bursts out laughing, shaking her head. “You’re hopeless, you know that?”

“You’re infuriating” adds Sparkles. “Playing this game with you is going to be a pain. Will you shut up and just play by the rules if we allow you to switch just this once?”

I take a deep sigh and nod. I’d rather play anything else, actually, but I guess they have already made up their minds.

“Fine” Sparkles agrees. “I’ll ask you again. Truth or dare?”

“Truth”

“Good. Have you ever, or would you ever, wear a tight black dress with high heels?”

“Seriously?” I chuckle, relieved that she asked something so stupid. “What do you care?”

“Scientific reasons. Just answer”

I don’t even have to think about it. “Well, no, I never had and I never would. I’m not that type. I prefer suits. And I don’t even like shoes, let alone high heels”

For some reason, Sparkles looks disappointed, but Bow and Adora are stifling a laugh.

“I told you that was a little off” Bow tells Sparkles, nudging her shoulder.

“A little?” Adora chuckles.

“What are you guys talking about?” I ask them, confused.

“Nothing!!” they reply in unison, with a dumb, innocent smile. I give Adora a we’ll-talk-about-this-later look and she starts whistling, avoiding eye contact.

“Okay, next turn” says Bow, reaching for the arrow. I hope it won’t be me again. This time the arrow points at Bow first, then Sparkles. Whew, I’m off the hook.

“Alright, truth or dare?” Bow asks her.

“Dare” she replies.

“Fine. I dare you to teleport to Mystacor, right inside your aunt’s bedroom, and scream to wake her up! And you can’t teleport back here until she sees it’s you”

“You’re going to get me killed!” she objects. “Are you serious??”

“Yup. And you’re taking all of us with you, just to make sure you actually do it”

“Uuuuugh” she face-palms. “I’ll have my revenge, rest assured”

Then she takes Bow’s hand, he grabs me and Adora in turn, and before I can protest we’re teleporting. Too many teleports today, definitely. One moment later we’re in this gigantic bedroom, plunged into the darkness of the night, slightly illuminated by the starlight coming from a huge, vertical window right behind the bed. Castaspella is sleeping soundly. Poor one. Sparkles puffs out her chest and lets out a scream so loud it makes me jump. Castaspella immediately sits up, yelling, her eyes open wide.

“Glimmer!” she shrieks. “What are you⸺” I can’t hear the end of the sentence because Sparkles teleports us back to her room.

When we materialize in Glimmer’s room, my knees weaken and I hold on to Adora’s shoulder to keep from falling. Bow bursts out laughing, but Sparkles looks kind of nervous.

“That was so fun!” he says.

“She’s gonna have my head tomorrow” Sparkles sighs.

“Uuuh, Sparkles in trouble” I sneer. “Can’t wait to see that”

“She saw all of us, we’re _all_ gonna be in trouble” she points out. “Great idea, Bow”

“It will be worth it” he replies, proud. “Anyway, let’s keep it going”

This time, the arrow stops towards me. Great! My turn to cause trouble. Even better, the next spin stops towards Adora. I sneer, she gulps.

“Truth or dare, princess?” I ask her, biting my lip.

“Uhm…” she hesitates, probably trying to figure out which one is the lesser of two evils. “Truth, maybe”

I take a moment to think about what I want to ask her. There are actually a lot of things I’d like to know, but I realize most of them are kind of personal, maybe I’ll save them for when we’re alone. Right now, I just want to embarrass her and have fun.

“Okay, so…” I finally decide. “Speaking of suits, how did you like my outfit at Princess Prom?”

Given that her cheeks are turning the color of that suit, I’d say my plan to embarrass her has worked. Sparkles and Bow are looking at her, raising their eyebrows in a teasing expression.

“Well, eh eh, sure” she nervously chuckles. “I mean, it was pretty cool, actually. That kind of suit, you know… _suits_ you”

Bow face-palms. “This pun is so horrible my dads would love it”

“Yup, that was terrible” Sparkles agrees.

“So, you liked it” I conclude, putting on a proud smile.

“How about you?” she replies. “Did you like my dress?”

I recall that moment, especially when I dipped her and she anchored her leg right against my… Now _I_ am the one who’s turning the color of her dress, probably.

“Yeah, whatever, it’s not your turn to ask questions anyway” I play it down, avoiding eye contact with her.

“Not _yet”_ she replies, making a smart face.

“Get. A. Room.” Sparkles grunts.

“Chill, Sparkles” I tell her. “We’re done”

“We’re not” Adora objects. “I’ve got other questions”

“Just wait for your turn!” Bow begs. “You know the rules”

“Just one quick question” she insists. “How about She-Ra’s hair? Did you like it better in my first form or⸺”

“ENOUGH!” Sparkles stands up and before I can realize what she’s doing, she grabs both me and Adora and teleports us into our room. I fall to the ground, disoriented.

“Glimmer, wait!” says Adora, laughing. “I didn’t mean to⸺”

“Go ahead with your _questions_ and come back when you’re done” she grunts. “You’re welcome” Then she disappears again, leaving us alone.

Adora and I exchange a look and we both start laughing.

“She got mad, didn’t she?” I chuckle.

“Nah” Adora shrugs. “That’s just Glimmer being Glimmer, she’s fine”

The room is dark, as we haven’t turned on the lights and it’s late at night. The starlight seeping in through the window is lighting up Adora’s silhouette, leaving a suffused blue halo around her. Jeez, she looks so beautiful.

“What?” she asks, having no idea how bad I want to kiss her right now.

“It’s nothing” I look away, glad that she can’t see I’m blushing. “Nevermind”

She sits cross-legged, right in front of me. “So, we might as well go on with these questions, I guess” she starts. “How about She-Ra’s hair, then?”

“You’re such an idiot” I giggle. “I prefer She-Ra’s last form, you already know that”

“But why? You never said”

“Because she looks more like you” I smile. “You even kept the ponytail and that stupid hair puff. But I guess that’s why I like it”

Adora gives me that fond smile with her eyebrows arched downward, the smile that makes me melt. “Your turn now. Any questions?” she asks, shrugging.

“So many” I murmur. Where do I even begin? “When did you… I mean… realize you…” Relax, Catra, you’re allowed to ask her. Just open up. I take a deep breath. “When did you realize you loved me?”

She looks down, her smile gone. Oops, wrong question maybe. I was too straightforward, maybe I should have⸺

“It was at the Heart” she suddenly replies, interrupting my stream of thoughts. “I was about to let go. I thought… I thought I would die” I slide closer to her, flattening my ears, patiently waiting for her to go on. “You were there, holding me, but I had lost all my strength. I closed my eyes and… then I had this vision”

“A vision?” I ask, curious.

“Kind of, I’m not sure what it was exactly, but I know it wasn’t real. I saw… you, Glimmer and Bow entering my room. You looked… _different_ , as if you came from the future or something. We had matching clothes, just like Bow and Glimmer. Your hair had grown back, and you kept it tied in a ponytail. And then you… you held your hand out towards me, and all I wanted was to take it. That’s when I realized it” My whole body warms up when she looks at me. “Yeah, I know, it took me a while to figure it out” she adds, shrugging. “You know I’m an idiot sometimes”

Something moves inside of me, something I can’t control, nor hold back. It’s because of what she said, or maybe how she said it, or both, and also this damn starlight shining over the room. I don’t know what it is, I just know I have to indulge it. So I lean forward and kiss her. I can tell she was not expecting it because she lets out a weak moan of surprise. But I don’t stop there. I gently push her down until she’s lying on the floor, then I straddle her.

“Truth or dare?” I ask.

“Dare” she whispers, out of breath.

“Kiss me like you did in the pool this morning”

She doesn’t hesitate. She intertwines her fingers in my hair and pulls me down, kissing me passionately. I can’t stop my body from shivering when her fingers slide down my spine, leaving my fur puffed up. My claws instinctively extend, as a new form of hunger grows in my stomach, making me more and more aware of my body and less and less able to control my mind. I’ve been craving this for too long to stop now. As our tongues dance together, I move my hand down her chest, my claws tearing up her jacket. I didn’t do it on purpose, but I could barely control it.

“Sorry” I whisper, pulling back.

“Don’t be, I’ve got plenty of ‘em” she says, smiling. Then she sits up, surprising me, and throws away the jacket. She clasps my waist tight and with an agile move she rolls on top of me. Probably for the first time ever, she’s the one who’s straddling me. “I wanted to know what it feels like” she murmurs with an alluring smile. “Now I know why you like it so much”

I had never seen her like this. My heart is pounding like crazy, my claws scratching the floor in excitement. She leans her head forward and bites my lower lip, causing me to moan. Then she moves her lips close to my ear and whispers: “Looks like you’re mine now, Catra”


	14. Adora

When I wake up the next morning, at first I don’t understand why my back hurts so much. I’m still sleepy, everything is a bit fuzzy, but when I open my eyes and find Catra curled up against my body, both of us naked, I realize. We’re on the floor, our clothes scattered all over the room. The door is probably not even locked, which means that anyone could knock or even come in any time now… We need to clean this mess, we need to get dressed, but… I don’t want to move. I have already ruined too many perfect moments, but no one is going to take this one from me. I want to feel Catra’s naked skin against mine and inhale her scent, stronger than ever after last night. I can’t believe we did that. Now that I’m thinking with a clear head, it seems unbelievable, the way I felt, the things we’ve done. I was so beside myself, but, at the same time, I’ve never felt so alive. And when I turned into She-Ra… that was totally unexpected. I couldn’t even control it, it just… _happened_ , somehow, when I… Whatever, that’s crazy, anyway. Last night was just crazy. I wouldn’t even believe it actually happened if we weren’t naked on the floor. I wonder if Catra felt like that too… she was kind of beside herself too, wilder than ever… The pain from her scratches that I ignored last night is starting to burn now. When I try to move, I feel as if my back is being pierced by a hundred needles. The pain makes me groan, loud enough to wake up Catra, unfortunately. She lifts her head to look at me, her eyes drowsy.

“Hey, Adora” she whispers, smiling.

The warmth of her voice is a balm against my pain. “Hey, Catra” I reply, trying to ignore it. “Didn’t want to wake you up”

“No problem. I thought I heard you groaning”

“No, it’s okay!” I try to play it down. “Go back to sleep”

She arches one of her eyebrows, skeptical. Damn, am I really that bad at lying?

“Turn around” she murmurs, a shade of fear in her voice.

“Catra, it’s okay, I mean it⸺”

“Turn around, Adora. Please”

This is not going to end well, I can feel it. But I obey, sighing. I slowly roll over, biting my lips hard not to groan again. I hear Catra gasping.

“It’s not that bad, really” I assure her, turning around to face her. “Don’t worry”

She sits up, looking devastated. Her ears lower than ever, her eyes widened in horror. “I… I…” she stutters. “I had no idea I was scratching so hard, I’m so… I’m sorry…”

“Hey, I told you it was okay, it’s my fault too” I try to reassure her, placing my hand on her shoulder. “We’ll just be more careful from now on, okay?”

She looks away, uncomfortable. “It’s not just the scars from last night” she whispers. “I recognized some of them from… before. The ones from the battle of Bright Moon, it’s been three years and they’re still there, perfectly visible. And then the ones I did when I was chipped… they’re fresh, so deep… do they hurt?”

“No, not really” I shake my head, trying to smile. “The ones from last night hurt just a bit and only because, you know, they’re really fresh. It’s going to be just a dull pain in a couple days, don’t worry. And it will be completely gone in a week or so. Trust me, I’m familiar with scars”

“That doesn’t make me feel better, you know” she murmurs, still not looking at me.

I knew this would be complicated. Seems like we can’t go on half a day without angst.

“Catra, you have to listen” I plead. “You said I have to stop making everything about myself, and I will try my best to do it. But I also need you to stop feeling guilty all the time. Let’s just leave our past behind, okay?”

“Last night is not exactly _past”_

“Last night was amazing”

Catra finally looks at me, astonished. A shade of red spreads through her cheeks.

“Yeah, it was” she smiles, arching her eyebrows downward in a soft expression. “I’m just sorry I hurt you”

“It was worth it” I giggle, turning red too. “I… I really liked it”

She sighs, looking slightly reassured. “I’ll try to control my claws better, promise”

“And I’ll try not to turn into She-Ra every time you… uhm, you know… _do_ that”

“Oh, I didn’t mind She-Ra, actually” she says, biting her lips. “At all”

I find myself staring at her, checking her out now that her body is illuminated by the sun, revealing details I couldn’t notice last night in the dark. When she realizes it, she turns purple and stands up quickly.

“Anyway, let’s just get dressed and go find your stupid friends” she says in a slightly nervous voice. “Sparkles might still be mad at us”

“Yeah… let’s go” I stand up, holding back a groan of pain when my back straightens. Jeez, her claws _did_ go deep. It’s strange that right now we’re both embarrassed of being naked in front of each other, but last night there was no shame, no hesitation, no fear. We were two completely different people, but at the same time I feel like we’ve never been _so_ ourselves before.

I bend over to pick my clothes up, but both the shirt and the jacket are ripped up. Thank goodness I always have two extra pairs of both of them. I quickly get into my panties and pants and wear my sports bra, occasionally glancing at Catra as she nimbly puts her clothes on. There’s an awkward silence between us.

I take out my intact shirt and jacket from the wardrobe and put them on as carefully as I can, trying to avoid any unnecessary rubbing against my aching back.

“You okay?” Catra asks in a worried voice.

I put on the most convincing smile I can. “Sure I am, don’t worry” Jeez, I really wish this shirt wasn’t so tight though.

“You know…” Catra says with a strange smile, “…about what Melog said…”

I had almost forgotten about that! Last night I forgot about everything, actually.

“Yeah?” I encourage her.

She giggles, looking away, her tail wagging side to side. “It was more like a piece of advice, you know” she confesses, turning red. “And I kind of followed it, last night”

“You mean…” I narrow my eyes. “What do you mean, exactly?”

“Uuugh, why do you always have to make things this hard?” she grunts. “Whatever, forget it”

“No! Wait!” I beg her, laughing. “I just want to make sure I got it right”

“I’m not gonna get more explicit than that, Adora. I’m pretty sure you can figure it out by yourself”

“Oh, come on, I just want to hear you say it just in case⸺”

“THEY TOLD ME I SHOULD MATE WITH YOU, OKAY?”

And it is in that exact moment that the door swings open and Bow bursts into the room, panting. “I’m really sorry to interrupt whatever it is you’re doing” he says. “But it’s an emergency”

“What’s going on?” I ask him, noticing the alarmed look on his face.

“It’s Entrapta” he says. “She’s got something to tell us”

When Catra, Bow and I get to the meeting room, we find everyone sitting in their chairs, waiting for us. Everyone’s there: Mermista, Sea Hawk, Frosta, Perfuma, Scorpia, Netossa, Spinnerella, Glimmer, Micah, and Entrapta. She is the only one standing, apparently too excited to sit down.

“Sorry to wake you up so early, everyone” Entrapta says when we take our seats. “But it’s an emergency. Yesterday I went back to my lab and I went through the data I had collected with Hordak when we were working on creating a portal. I know that experiment was a disaster but if Catra hadn’t set it off we could have probably kept on working on it to make it safe, or at least less destructive” I spot Catra’s hand shivering, so I hold it under the table. “So I thought that maybe, but just maybe, now that we have set the planet’s magic free, I could use it as a more stable source of energy to power another portal, which might be easier to handle if we take all the needed precautions before setting it off”

“I don’t understand” says Glimmer, looking confused. “Why are we talking about a portal? What do we need it for?”

“Well, obviously” she replies, “to bring Queen Angella back”


	15. Glimmer

My heart skips a beat when Entrapta says ‘Queen Angella’. Every inch of my body stiffens.

“Angella?” exclaims dad, his eyes widened. “My Angella?”

“I can’t guarantee you it’s going to work” Entrapta says. “But if Hordak and I work together, we can definitely open an intra-dimensional portal again”

“Are you saying this just because you want to work with Hordak?” I whisper, my voice trembling.

“No, Glimmer!” she replies in a firm tone. “I’m not, believe me. I wanted to do something for you, I wanted to prove myself to you so that you can trust me. That’s why I thought about the portal. It’s my fault too that Queen Angella is gone, so I want to do something to bring her back, if I can”

My heartbeat accelerates as the thought of my mother flashes through my mind, filling my eyes up with tears. “You…you’re s-saying…” I stutter in a cracking voice. “You’re saying that there’s an actual chance to bring her back?”

“I wouldn’t say the degree of scientific certainty is particularly high about this, but according to my calculations we should have no problem opening a portal again”

“Wait a minute” Adora barges in. “Last time the portal nearly destroyed reality. How do we know it won’t happen again?”

“We don’t know for sure” Entrapta replies, shrugging. “That’s why we’re not using any First Ones tech to power it, this time. I think the magic of Etheria is a much more reliable source of energy, the reason why the First Ones were so technologically advanced is that they were able to use it to their advantage. We should do the same, combining magic and tech! If we manage to open the portal, though, none of us can get through it, that would be too dangerous! But She-Ra could!”

I look at Adora, her eyes widened in a worried expression.

“What are you talking about?” Catra snaps. “What do you mean by ‘could’? How do you know she’d be safe?”

“I don’t” Entrapta admits, sad. “But if there’s something I’m sure of, it’s that we can’t just travel to another dimension like that. We don’t even know which dimension Angella is trapped in, or when and how she moves to other dimensions. She-Ra is the only one who can go and look for her”

“What if she can’t find her and she gets stuck in there??” Catra shouts, standing up. “This is insane!”

“We have to try!” Entrapta protests. “She-Ra is stronger than ever now that the magic of the Heart is set free, I’m sure she can do it!”

“So you’re just going to send her through a portal without even knowing where Angella is?” Catra insists, scratching her claws on the table. “That’s not gonna happen!”

“Catra, you don’t understand⸺”

“SHUT UP!” I cry, standing up. I’m shivering from head to toe, unable to control it, clenching my fists so hard my nails are digging into my skin. “All of you, shut up” I say in a trembling voice. “I’m not risking anyone’s safety for this mission. Entrapta, if you can’t guarantee that opening this portal will bring my mother back and nobody will get hurt in the process, there’s nothing to discuss”

“But, Glimmer” Bow murmurs, caressing my arm. “What if she’s right and She-Ra can actually bring her back?”

“My mother sacrificed herself so that Adora wouldn’t have to” I cry, grinding my teeth. “Did you forget it?? Do you think she’d want this? Even if she’s alive, and we’re not even sure about that…” I sob, closing my eyes. “Even if she’s alive, she wouldn’t want any of us to risk our lives for her. I know that, and you know it too”

“Glimmer, I can try” Adora says in a firm voice. “I can’t give up without trying, not after what she did for me. I owe her”

“Please, don’t do this” Catra begs her, shivering. “You don’t know what could happen, you will be on your own and things could get bad and if I can’t be there with you I just…”

“I’m the only one who can!” Adora insists. “I can’t just back down!”

“Yes, you can!” Catra cries. “It doesn’t always have to be you! That’s why the queen sacrificed herself in the first place, don’t you get it?”

“And what would you know about Queen Angella, uh?” Mermista grunts, crossing her arms. “We wouldn’t be discussing this if _you_ hadn’t set off that portal, you don’t get to have a saying in this”

“Please, everyone, calm down” dad exclaims. “I believe we don’t have enough information to make a decision right now. I suggest we let Entrapta work on the portal and⸺”

“Dad, no” I reply, angry. “This is too dangerous. We don’t know what will happen when the portal opens. We have just got rid of Prime, I don’t want anything bad to happen. Even if the portal is stable, it doesn’t mean that Adora will get back here safe. And it doesn’t mean she will find mum, either. I’m not doing this”

“Glimmer, if you just listened…” Entrapta pleads.

“I’ve made up my mind!” I shout, slamming my fist on the table. “I already messed it up when I trusted Shadow Weaver and used the Heart of Etheria. It’s my fault that Prime found us, my fault that the whole planet is in ruins. I will not put us in danger again, no matter what. This meeting is over”

My dad takes my hand, trying to calm me down, but I shake it off and teleport to my bedroom. I lock the door behind me and let myself drop to the ground, hugging my knees. Only then do I allow myself to sob violently. All I can think of when I close my eyes is my mother’s smile. She’s gone. She’s not going back. I can’t bring her back, no matter what Entrapta says. She’s just doing it to make me trust her, to show me she cares, but it doesn’t matter. Catra is right, it’s not even a plan, it’s just another crazy scientific experiment that would endanger Adora, and I can’t allow that. It’s not like we know where mum is, anyway. It’s not going to work. It’s pointless.

I let the memories of my mother cradle me as I quietly sob in my room until I lose track of time. I don’t know if it’s been minutes or hours when I finally hear footsteps approaching. I sniffle, trying to stop myself from crying.

“Sparkles?” It’s Catra, her muffled voice coming from the other side of the door. “You in there?”

I don’t reply, but I lean my head against the door, knowing she’ll hear that. I can tell she’s dropping to the floor too, because I hear her body sliding against the door. We’re back-to-back, just like when we were in Prime’s ship. Somehow, this makes me smile.

“So…” Catra starts. “Are you okay?”

“What do you think?” I murmur.

“Yeah, stupid question” she giggles. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright”

“What do you care?”

Silence. I’m not sorry for being rude to her. I haven’t forgotten she was the one who set off that stupid portal in the first place.

“Listen… Glimmer” she murmurs. “You have every right to hate me. What I did… is unforgivable. I still can’t understand why you guys accepted me that easily. I wouldn’t have done the same. But I think… I feel we have to talk about this. I need to tell you this: I’m sorry, Glimmer. I am so sorry. I wish I could come back to fix it, but I can’t. I’ve had so many nightmares about that portal, I lost count. I can’t forgive myself, even if you do. But I want to make it up to you somehow, just like Entrapta is trying to do. I think she’s doing it for you”

“It doesn’t matter” I reply, my voice trembling. “They don’t understand. You and I are the only ones who spoke against this stupid plan because we are the only ones who know how it feels to make the wrong choice. You set off the portal even though everyone told you not to. I used the Heart of Etheria even though everyone told me not to. We’re not so different. I’m not better than you”

It’s true. I’m not. I’ve been a terrible ruler so far, I let everyone down, I almost lost Bow’s trust forever. But it won’t happen again. I won’t put myself first ever again. I am a queen, and a queen must do what’s good for her people. Opening a portal now that we’ve finally managed to bring balance and peace to Etheria is just madness. Risking Adora’s life just because there is a small chance to bring my mother back is madness. I won’t do it. I know mother wouldn’t want this.

“You are better than me, Sparkles” says Catra, suddenly, after a whole minute of silence. “You did one bad thing in your life, just one, and even if the price to pay was high, you learned from it. You are already moving on, trying to get better. But I didn’t do just one bad thing. I did it again, and again, and again. I thought I’d never stop, I thought I had no choice but to go down that spiral. You made me feel like I had a choice. You believed in me. Adora did the same, but I wasn’t ready to listen to her, I was so proud, and hurt, and angry. No matter what she said, I wouldn’t listen. But when you told me to do that one good thing in my life… You helped me see what I truly wanted. I… I wanted to thank you for that”

I find myself smiling, recalling that moment. “Anytime, Horde scum” I say.

I hear Catra’s muffled laugh on the other side of the door. “Oh, and one last thing” she says. “Just wanted to let you know that… I think you’re a great queen, for what it’s worth”

I feel my blood rushing through my cheeks, making me blush. I wipe out my tears, feeling proud. “Thanks, Catra” I murmur. “It’s definitely worth something, since you’re apparently the only one around here who has some common sense”

“Good one, Sparkles” she chuckles. Damn, I can’t believe we’re going to be friends.


	16. Catra

Damn, I can’t believe Sparkles and I are actually getting close. I had never stopped to think about how much we have in common, until now. Talking to her has made me realize we’re both so proud, too proud probably, and scared. Most of the time we’re just scared of doing the wrong thing. She’s lucky she only made one mistake to regret, though. My mistakes are carved on Adora’s skin, probably forever. Adora… is she really going to try something as reckless as going through a portal on her own, without even knowing where she’s going?

“Look, Sparkles, about this portal…” I say with a serious tone. “I know that Entrapta is just trying to help, but we also know her calculations are not always one hundred percent affordable, and⸺”

“Catra, you don’t need to convince me” she interrupts me. “You heard what I said back in there. I’m not doing this”

“That’s not the point. This is not only about you. You know Adora. Now that she knows she could do something to bring Angella back, she’s not going to stop until she tries. I need you to help me talk her out of this. I can’t…” I hug my knees, flattening my ears. “I can’t lose her again. Please… we need to talk to her. Adora doesn’t⸺”

“Doesn’t what?” It’s Adora’s voice. I was so focused on my speech I didn’t notice her and Bow approaching.

“Glimmer, get out of there, we need to talk” says Bow. I quickly stand up, trying to avoid eye contact with Adora.

“What is it, Catra?” she snaps. “What were you saying?”

I don’t have time to answer because Sparkles teleports right in front of me, facing Adora and Bow.

“We were saying” she answers in an aggressive tone, “that it seems like Catra and I are the only sensible people around here. Do you really think this plan is going to work? Entrapta says she could use the Heart of Etheria as a source of energy, but she has no idea how to do it”“”””””

“You don’t know that!” Bow protests. “She hasn’t even tried yet!”

“She knows nothing about magic!” Sparkles insists. “You think she can handle the magic of Etheria? We know nothing about this magic, absolutely nothing! We know it’s good, but it doesn’t mean we can use it as we please! Do you really think we can draw this energy from the Heart without any consequence?”

“There’s no way we can figure this out until we try” Bow replies. “But I don’t see what’s wrong with that! Why are you so scared? What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Are you deaf or something?” I cry. “Adora could get stuck in there! The fact that she’s She-Ra doesn’t mean she’s invincible. She wouldn’t have made it against Prime if we hadn’t given her the backup she needed. How is she supposed to find Angella if Entrapta has no damn clue where she could be? How can you be so reckless?”

“Catra” Adora replies, “I’m not saying I will blindly jump into that portal without knowing what I’m doing. Entrapta just gave us a basic idea of how things might work if we try this. I’m sure if we give her more time to study and do her math she will give us more details, we will get a better idea of what we’re facing exactly”

“Why won’t you even let her try?” Bow asks Sparkles. “Just give her a chance! Of course we won’t risk Adora’s life if it gets too dangerous, but we don’t know that yet!”

“It’s just like the failsafe” I growl. “Now you say you don’t want to risk her life, but when the time comes she’s just going to do it anyway. It’s just how she is” I turn to look at her, angry, and she frowns at me, crossing her arms.

“I won’t do anything stupid, I promise” she snorts. “I just want to know more about this plan. If we realize that it gets too dangerous and things get bad, I promise I will back down”

I look away, grinding my teeth. “No, you won’t. I know you. It doesn’t matter what you’re risking, you will always choose to play the hero, won’t you?” I turn my back and run away, trying to hold my tears back.

I can’t believe this is happening. We’ve had, what, two days of peace? And now they’re really thinking about opening a portal, again? What makes this even worse is that I know this wouldn’t be happening if I hadn’t set off that portal, that stupid, damn portal. Adora is still trying to fix my mistakes, she’s going to pay for them, no matter what I tell her. She never listens. Just like I never listened to her. I’m going to lose her, I’m going to lose her and it’s my fault. My fault… my fault… my…

I suddenly stop running, out of breath. My heartbeat is pounding violently, so hard against my chest it almost hurts. I fall on my knees, panting loudly, my eyes burning with tears, my hands shaking like crazy. I’m having a breakdown, again. I’m having…

“Catra!!”

Adora’s cracking voice makes its way through the spiral of darkness creeping inside my head. I open my eyes, but everything is fuzzy. My body is so heavy. My head is so heavy.

“Catra… I’m here” Adora is sitting in front of me, tears running down her face. “I’m sorry. I… I’m not going anywhere, I promise” She grabs my trembling hands and places them on her cheeks. “Look at me”

It takes all the strength I have to do something as simple as raising my head.

“I’m not going anywhere” she repeats. “I won’t leave you behind, okay?”

I start sobbing, hating myself for being so weak, so vulnerable. Why does it always have to be like this? Why does the thought of Adora leaving break me like that? I just can’t take it anymore. I can’t lose her. I just can’t.

“You… promise?” I whisper in a cracked voice.

Adora pulls me closer and holds me tight, her head on my shoulder, her arms around my neck. “I promise” she weeps.

Oh, Adora, what I’d give to believe you. 

“Catra, I’m sorry” says Bow, behind us. “I didn’t mean to upset you. We would never risk Adora’s life, that’s not gonna happen, you don’t have to worry about it. We are simply going through our options”

“These options are not good enough” says Sparkles. “It’s not safe. Unless you come up with a plan that doesn’t endanger the whole planet, discussing is pointless”

“It wouldn’t be pointless if you weren’t so stubborn!” Bow snaps. “Why are you acting like this?”

“Because I’m scared!!” Sparkles cries. “I’m scared that if I allow myself to hope I’ll see my mother again and then something happens and it doesn’t work, it’s only going to make it worse! Just when I was about to finally let her go and accept that she’s gone, you want me to start hoping things could change? I don’t want it. Hope is not enough for me. I can’t just send Adora through a portal and _hope_ she will find mother, and then _hope_ they will both get back here safe. We’re not kids anymore, Bow. We can’t improvise with something like this”

“Nobody is saying that!” Bow protests. “I just wish you could give Entrapta and Hordak a chance to work on it! I can’t see what’s wrong with trying!”

“If the magic of the Heart is involved, trying might be dangerous enough! Tech is way more predictable than magic, we have no idea what would happen if we mess things up!”

“Glimmer is right” murmurs Adora, her head still on my shoulder. She lifts it up and wipes out a tear from my cheek. She gives me a warm, comforting smile, but it’s not enough to calm me down. My breathing is still irregular, my body still shaking. I feel like I would crumble into pieces if Adora let me go. “We can’t use the magic of the planet without knowing what we’re dealing with” she continues. “And there is only one person on Etheria who might help us know something more” She places my head on her shoulder and scratches me behind my ears, somehow making my heartbeat slow down.

“What are you talking about?” asks Bow, sounding confused.

Adora takes a deep breath before answering. “I need to talk to Madame Razz”


	17. Adora

I have to go and talk to Razz, alone. The more we are, the more likely it is that she’ll get confused (I mean, more than usual) and start talking nonsense. It’s better if I just bring Swift Wind along, he’s a familiar face for Razz. But right now I just can’t leave. I’m back to my room, lying in bed with Catra, trying to calm her down after… whatever happened to her. The guilt is growing like a physical presence inside of me, I can feel its clutches tightening around my throat. Catra’s expression is so distant and motionless it makes me shiver. No matter what I tell her, she just won’t believe me.

“Catra, please, don’t do this…” I try, again. “I just want to talk to Razz. I’m not planning anything, I mean it. I just want to know more about the magic of Etheria, that’s all”

“So that you can learn how to use it to open the portal, sure” she whispers, no emotions in her voice. 

“What if we find a safe way to do it? What if I can learn to use the magic to make She-Ra even stronger? I should at least try to know more about it!”

“Why would you need to get stronger?” she snaps. “What battle are you fighting? The war is over, Adora. Everything is just fine. But you can’t just sit back, can you? The world needs She-Ra, am I right? It doesn’t matter what you need, let alone what I need. We both know I don’t matter”

Her words hurt me like knives: they hurt as much as the scratches from our fights, only this time I don’t know how to respond to her attacks.

“Stop saying that” I beg her. “You know it’s not true. This is not only about us, this is something bigger. You can’t keep me safe forever, Catra. Etheria chose me to be She-Ra, I _have_ to find out about the magic of the planet if I want to understand who I am. She-Ra is a part of me, whether you like it or not, and She-Ra is a part of Etheria. I need to do this, for me”

“Go ahead, then” she replies, still not looking at me in the eyes.

“But it doesn’t mean I’ll do something stupid and get myself killed, okay?” I insist. “I don’t want to be a hero, Catra. I just want to be me”

“Same thing”

“No, it’s not. I promise I just want to talk to Razz, and if she tells me that the magic must not be used, then I won’t. We won’t. And we’ll stop talking about the portal, for good”

She takes a deep breath. “Whatever. It’s not like I can convince you otherwise, anyway”

I sigh, looking away. It’s pointless. She’s not going to listen. I lean forward to kiss her forehead, but when my lips touch her skin, she starts, flattening her ears. This hurts me more than all the scars on my back.

“I’ll be right back, okay?” I tell her, trying to prevent my voice from shaking, without much success. I get up and go for the door, but when I open it, Melog comes in. They rub their head against my legs, then look at me and let out a sad meow. I can tell they are reacting to Catra’s feelings. I kneel and pet them behind their ears.

“Take care of her while I’m gone, ‘kay?” I smile. Melog nods and jumps on our bed, curling up next to Catra. I look in her direction, hoping she’ll say something or at least look at me, but she doesn’t.

So I just leave.

I find Swift Wind in the gardens of Bright Moon. He’s munching among the bushes, probably looking for fallen apples. He senses me coming way before I get close to him, so he raises his head and shakes his mane to impress me.

“Adora!” he greets me. “I was wondering when you’d come and visit your favorite noble steed”

“You’re actually my one and only steed” I object.

He frowns at me. “Yeah, I know that. I was just praising myself, since nobody here seems to praise me enough. Anyway!” he rears. “Did you need me for something?”

“Yeah, I need to see Madame Razz” I tell him. “I think it’s better if it’s just the two of us”

“Oh I love that old lady!” he exclaims. “Hope she bakes me an apple pie like last time”

“Well, I hope she gives me the answers I need” I murmur, looking away.

“I can feel something’s bothering you” he says with an interrogative look. “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing, it’s okay. Let’s just go” I play it down, mounting on him. I don’t want to talk about Catra, but apparently I can’t seem to stop thinking about her. I’m doing nothing wrong, though. I just want to know more about Etheria, that’s it.

“Alright, then. Keep your secrets” says Swift Wind. “Madame Razz, here we come!”

He flaps his rainbow wings and soars into the air until Bright Moon becomes nothing but a distant dot behind us. I try to enjoy the feeling of the fresh breeze caressing my skin, but my thoughts gravitate towards Catra, no matter what, distracting me from anything else.

When we finally get to the Whispering Woods, Swift Wind glides among the trees, landing in the small meadow right in front of Razz’s hut.

“This place definitely looks better than ever!” he says while I jump off his back. He’s right: after I set the magic of the Heart free, it seems like the Woods are alive, somehow. The colors are brighter, the air is filled with golden sparkles and you can hear the calls of unknown animals echoing in the distance. It is beautiful. I will protect it at all costs.

“It’s amazing” I exclaim in awe. “I had no idea Etheria could be so beautiful”

“It’s always been like this!” says a raspy voice behind us. I turn around and see Razz coming out of her hut, holding a broomstick. “Mara, dearie! I knew you would come”

“Hi, Razz!” I greet her with a big smile. “I’m Adora, by the way, just so you know”

She tilts her head and narrows her big eyes, staring at me. Then she widens them and grins. “Of course, Adora! That’s what I said”

“Yeah… sure” I sigh, smiling. It doesn’t matter if she thinks I’m Mara, I just need to get her to tell me about the magic of Etheria.

“Any chance there’s an apple pie baking inside there?” asks Swift Wind, stars in his eyes.

“Apple pie?” Razz exclaims. “How am I supposed to bake an apple pie without apples? Let’s go find some together, Adora”

“Yeeeeee, apples!” Swift Wind cries in happiness, rearing up. “Let my flawless sniff handle this, I’ll take you to the best apple trees around! Follow me!”

As we follow Swift Wind deep in the woods, I find it hard to remain concentrated on my mission: the nature around us is so astonishing it makes me wanna lay down and just stare at the sky. But I’m here for a reason. I need to stay focused.

“So, Razz” I start, not sure what to say exactly. “You said Etheria has always been like this…”

“Oh yes. It’s beautiful, isn’t it, dearie?”

“Yes, it’s amazing, actually. I can’t believe the First Ones decided to drain the planet for their own interests”

“Oh, they didn’t understand the difference between magic and technology” Razz replies, occasionally sweeping out fallen leaves from the ground. No idea why she would sweep out the leaves in the middle of a forest, but, whatever. “They believed that magic was a source of power, something they could bend to their will, but this is not how magic works”

I can’t believe she’s actually talking sense, I thought this would be harder! I should take advantage of her moment of clarity to ask more specific questions.

“So, you’re saying the magic shouldn’t be used at all?”

“Used?” she repeats, confused. “What would you want to use magic for?”

“Oh, you know, nothing special…” I play it down with nervous laughter. “Just some… uh… maybe use it power a portal or something…”

“A portal?” she exclaims, gasping. “Mara, dearie, again? You’ve already done it once!”

“No! I mean⸺” I sigh, frustrated. “I’m not trying to open a portal to move the whole planet into another dimension. I just want to know if there’s a safe way to use the magic without, you know, draining it or weakening the planet again”

“You didn’t need any magic last time you opened that portal, Mara dearie” she replies, giggling. “I can’t see why you should do it now! There is no ‘magic of Etheria’, the magic _is_ Etheria. If you try to control it, or worse, _use_ it, the planet will respond to it. Why do you think the First Ones abandoned Etheria? They couldn’t control the side effects of what they did. The planet turned against them. And these beautiful woods…” she stops and sighs, closing her eyes. “They became so unsettled and unpredictable, the creatures that used to live here peacefully became aggressive. Only She-Ra could handle them, that’s why they left the planet and sent you, Mara dearie, to finish their project. Thank goodness Adora managed to restore balance! The magic is now free” She turns to look at me with a tender smile. “You would be so proud of her”

My heart fills with pride when she says that. Swift Wind turns to look at me and winks. “Yeah, she really did a great job” he exclaims. “She couldn’t have done it without her noble steed, though”

I give him a shut-up look and turn to Razz. “So… the magic must not be used, right?” I ask her, discouraged.

“Magic can only be used by magic itself”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean She-Ra, of course! You don’t seem very alert today, dearie”

“She-Ra?” I repeat, confused. “But… if She-Ra can control the magic, then Mara must have used it to open the portal”

“Mara?” Razz exclaims, staring at me as if she was trying to recognize her in me. “Oh, it’s you, Adora! Mara would be so proud of you, darling”

I try not to show my frustration and take a deep breath. I knew it would get complicated. “Yes, Razz, it’s me, Adora. I need to know more about the magic. How did Mara manage to open that portal? If you said that She-Ra can handle the magic of the planet, then she must have used it, right?”

“Oh, Adora, don’t be silly” she chuckles. “My dear Mara was never able to reach her full potential. She was weakened by the Sword, just like the Etheria itself. You see, when Mara started to connect with the planet’s magic, it was already too late, but you…” she looks at me proudly and hits my forehead with her broomstick. “You could do great things, Adora. She-Ra and Etheria are now as one, as it was always meant to be”

“What does this mean?” I ask her, even more confused. “What should I do?”

“You should hand me those apples over there, if you don’t mind” she replies, pointing at an apple tree on our right.

“Yeah! Apples!” cries Swift Wind, rearing up and reaching for the apples. He takes them in his teeth and throws them at me, one by one. I catch all of them without dropping not even one, surprisingly, and put them inside the basket hanging from Razz’s arm.

“Okay, Razz” I continue. “What should I do besides handing you apples?”

“Well, you can’t make a pie only with apples, so you could help with the flour, sugar and eggs too!”

“No, I mean… besides baking pies” I grunt. “How am I supposed to learn to use the magic? How will I know the difference between using and exploiting? What if I can’t control it?”

“Why are you so troubled, dearie?” she asks, checking the surroundings for more apples. “What’s the hurry?”

“I need to know if I can open a portal to bring Queen Angella back” I tell her. “She sacrificed herself to save all of us, and now she’s probably stuck between dimensions, I can’t just leave her there”

“Angella?” Razz repeats, finally looking at me with an attentive look. “Oh, I know her!”

I widen my eyes, freezing. “Wait, what?” I gasp. “What do you mean you know her?”

“I see her, sometimes!” she answers, carelessly. “She comes to visit me, every now and then”

“Razz, how can⸺when? When was the last time you saw her?” I ask her, forcing her to stop by placing my hands on her shoulders. “Is she safe? How could⸺”

“Calm down, dearie!” she chuckles, putting my hands down. “No need to fret, she’s fine”

“How do you know that?” I cry, my heartbeat accelerating. “You also keep on seeing Mara but she’s not fine, she’s…” Swift Wind kicks my leg before I can finish the sentence. He shakes his head, frowning at me. I take a deep breath and try to calm down. If I want Razz to tell me what she knows, I have to be patient. “Razz, I really need to know” I continue, trying to control myself. “When did you see her? What did she say? How do I know if she’s really okay? Could I see her too?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t know” she shrugs. “Forgive me, darling, my memory is a bit fuzzy. I’m not a teenager anymore, alas! Moreover, we should focus on the apples, I need at least ten of them and we’ve only got four!”

“Razz, please!” I beg her. “I promise I’ll get you all the apples in these woods if you just tell me about Angella, _please!”_

She scratches her head, pensively. “I am afraid I don’t know, Adora” she exclaims. “She can’t choose where she goes. She turns up here occasionally, and for a really short amount of time, and then she just disappears, off to some other dimension”

“Wait, so…” I take a step back, shocked. “She’s really alive?” I can’t believe it. How could I not think of it? Entrapta said she would be stuck between dimensions, but I never thought she would be able to _travel_ between them! And of course Razz can see her, she does not only shift between Mara’s time and our time… if Razz was here while we were still in Despondos, but she also kept on seeing Mara from the previous dimension… then Razz is shifting between dimensions too! That’s why she can see Angella! But if we can all see Razz, why can’t we see Angella? And if she was really here, why didn’t she try to contact us? Or at least leave a message to Razz? This is so confusing my head starts spinning. “Razz, what did she tell you when you last saw her?” I ask her, hoping she can remember something. “I need to know if there’s something she’s trying to tell us, I need to tell Glimmer, please!”

She narrows her eyes and looks up, in an effort to remember. “Glimmer? Oh yes! She definitely said something about a glimmer she saw in the woods”

I sigh, hopeless. Swift Winds comes closer to me and whispers in my ear: “I don’t think you’re going to get much more information, for now. Let her be, we’ll try again another time. Her moment of clarity lasted longer than usual, anyway”

He’s right, I can’t expect her to just give me all the answers I need. But she did give me something, way more than I could hope for, actually. I know something more about Etheria, about She-Ra, and, most importantly, about Angella. Maybe we won’t need to open that portal, maybe there’s an easier way. I just need to go back to Bright Moon and tell everyone, we’ll figure something out.

“So, Mara dearie” Razz says. “Will you help me find some more apples? We should hurry, it’s almost lunchtime!”

“Actually” I tell her, “I really should get back⸺” Swift Wind interrupts me with a loud neigh.

“We can’t leave without tasting her apple pie! We can stay a bit longer, come on”

I look into Razz’s puppy dog eyes and find it really hard to disappoint her, after all she’s done for me. “Fine” I sigh, smiling. “Let’s go bake this pie”


	18. Catra

I can’t sleep, but I also can’t really get up. I’ve been hugging Melog for a whole hour, or maybe even more, I don’t know, I lost track of time. Melog’s purring is the only thing that gives me some kind of comfort right now. My head seems so empty, I find it hard to think about anything at all. It’s like a part of me is desperately trying to keep me from thinking, because if I allow myself to do it, I know it’s going to hurt. And I don’t want to get hurt anymore.

A sudden knock on the door makes me start. I try to ignore it, but they insist.

“Catra, it’s me!” It’s Scorpia’s voice. “Do you mind if I come in?”

I do actually. I don’t want to see anybody. But Scorpia… I shut her out so many times, but I promised her I would be a better friend. I’d better start making good on that promise.

“Sure, come in” I reply, with little enthusiasm.

I’m not looking in her direction, so I can’t see her coming in, but I can definitely hear it, since she somehow manages to trip and drop something, breaking it. I don’t even know what that is.

“Whoops, eheh” she chuckles, nervously. “My bad. Uhm, yes, anyway…” She doesn’t come any closer, respecting my personal space, surprisingly. “Bow and Glimmer told me what happened and… yeah, I know you won’t probably like it, but I have an idea that might make you feel better. Soooooo, I was thinking if you would… you know… uuuuh… would you like to join me in the gardens for a guided meditation with Perfuma?”

“For a what?” I repeat, lazily lifting my head.

“Oh, it’s cool, I’ve done it before!” she answers, excited. “It’s just about breathing and letting your emotions flow”

“Sounds stupid”

“Yeah, I knew you would say that” she chuckles. “But I really think you should try. I was skeptical too at first, but it really helps you, actually. I mean, it helped me, at least. I think you might like it, if you just give it a try”

I sigh, deeply, and sit up. Melog wakes up and rubs their head against my cheek, affectionately. It’s not like I have anything to lose, I guess.

“Fine, whatever” I shrug. “But I’m bringing Melog”

When we reach Perfuma in the gardens, we find her sitting cross-legged in the grass, her back straight, her hands placed on her knees, palms up.

“Catra, you came!” she exclaims, surprised. “I’m so glad!”

“Yeah, don’t get too excited about it” I grunt. “I was just bored”

“It’s alright, come sit in front of me” she says with a smile.

I snort and obey, as Scorpia takes place on Perfuma’s right. Melog curls up next to me, looking curious.

“Okay, first of all” she starts, “try to relax. Cross your legs and place your hands on your knees, so that the energy in your body is all connected. Remember to keep your palms up: this means that even though you are sitting, therefore in touch with the ground, you are also open to receive the energy from the sky”

I take a look at Scorpia, who seems to know what she’s doing, as she is already in a perfect position. Every part of me thinks that this whole thing is ridiculous, but I’ll make an exception this time, just for Scorpia. I get into position and wait for Perfuma’s next directions.

“Okay, now close your eyes” she says, doing it. I raise my eyebrow, looking at Scorpia, but she winks at me and does the same. Alright, then. I close my eyes.

“Now we are ready to start” says Perfuma. “Try to focus only on my voice, let it guide you into the depths of your mind. Now, breathe in, deeply and slowly. You have to visualize your lungs filling up with pure, fresh air. That’s the positive energy you want to welcome inside your body. Don’t exhale until I tell you to”

I obey, taking a deep breath, trying to visualize my lungs, whatever that means. I don’t feel anything special.

“Hold your breath for a couple of seconds” she continues, “then… breathe out all the negative energy trapped inside your body and mind. Breathe out all your problems and anxieties, let them go”

Adora’s face crosses my mind, making my heartbeat accelerate. I exhale, vigorously, hoping to breathe her out of my mind.

“Now repeat until you feel your body is relaxed and your mind clear” says Perfuma.

I’m trying, I swear I’m trying, but I’m not sure this is working for me. I can’t just get her out of my mind, as much as I wish I could. And I can’t calm down if the thought of losing her is hammering in my brain, no matter what I do. There are thoughts you can’t just set aside.

“Look, Perfuma, thank you for trying, really” I say, opening my eyes. “But I can’t just sit down and relax, I’m sorry, this is not working for me”

“Then don’t” she replies, calmly. “There’s no point in being quiet when all you want to do is speak your mind”

“Yeah, you can talk to us, wildcat” adds Scorpia with a smile. “Whatever makes you feel better”

I look away, reaching for the scar behind my neck, like I always do when I feel insecure. “I don’t know” I murmur. “What’s the point of talking about it?”

“It’s another way to help you clear your mind” says Perfuma. “If you keep your doubts and insecurities locked inside your head, they will get the better of you, eventually. And when a feeling gets the better of you, you can't stop yourself from allowing that feeling to make you do something, despite knowing that what you’re doing is wrong”

Her words hit me like a slap in the face. I can relate to them so much, _too_ much, I’d say. It’s like she’s talking about me… the past me, at least. That’s just how I felt while I was fighting Adora: like I didn’t have a choice, like I couldn’t stop my own actions, like I was just following some kind of unbreakable pattern.

“It doesn’t have to be like this, Catra” she says. “You shouldn’t be at the mercy of your own anxiety. You can learn and deal with it, if you really want. And you should start by talking about it to someone”

Yeah, good point. I tried talking to Adora, but it didn’t help much. Plus, she is the reason why I’m feeling like this, so maybe she’s not the best choice.

“I know what you’re thinking” Perfuma says. “It’s okay if you don’t feel like talking about it to Adora right now. It doesn’t have to be her” Wait, can she read my mind or something? “Just start by talking to whoever you deem trustworthy”

Well, it’s not that easy. I find it really hard to trust anybody other than Adora. Scorpia is looking at me with a smile that literally says ‘you can trust me, you know’, but as much as I want to be a better friend, I don’t feel ready to open up like that, not yet.

“I’m sorry” I murmur. “I don’t… I don’t know how to do that”

“Do what?” asks Scorpia.

“Open up. I’m not good at that”

“It doesn’t matter, take your time” Perfuma reassures me. “You don’t have to do this today. You’ve already taken an important step forward, just by coming here. If you want, we could do this again, tomorrow, or whenever you feel like it”

It might not be a terrible idea. Even though it didn’t work much, it was still a distraction, I guess. It was still better than staying in my room and letting my thoughts consume me, anyway.

“Fine, tomorrow is fine” I agree with a weak smile. “Thanks, Perfuma. For real”

I jump to my feet, somehow feeling lighter. Uh, how strange.

“I’ll catch up with you later, wildcat” says Scorpia. “As soon as I finish my daily meditation session” She turns to look at Perfuma and I catch both of them blushing.

“Sure, take your time” I tell her with a smile. “Melog, let’s go”

I go back to the castle and start wandering around, mindlessly. I walk down these empty corridors, wondering where everyone went. This castle is so big you can hardly bump into anyone, and despite my feline sense of direction, this place still looks like a labyrinth. But even so, when I finally stop walking I find myself in front of Adora’s bedroom. I guess I was unconsciously drawn here by her scent. It’s funny how she can always find her way back inside my head, even when I’m doing my best not to think about her. For some reason, this makes me smile.

I used to sense her scent also in the Fright Zone, after she left. I couldn’t get rid of it, but honestly I didn’t even want to. I haven’t told her yet, but I also kept sleeping in her blanket. I hated myself for that, but I just couldn’t help it: her scent cradled me to sleep, even when I was filled with hatred and fear, even when I thought I wanted her gone. How strange.

A flashback crosses my mind, taking me back to our very first night together. She had just found me in that box. She had spent the whole day trying to get rid of all the dirt on my fur, forcing me to take a bath. I had scratched her all over her body, hissing, but she stubbornly kept cleaning me up. And then she just took me into her bed, because it was such a cold night and she noticed I was shivering. She covered both of us in her blanket, making me feel safe.

“Good night, Catra” she said with a big smile. “I’m so glad I found you. You’re okay now. I won’t let anything bad happen as long as we have each other”

And then she just dozed off, exhausted. I was still kind of cold, so I curled up closer to her, my nose almost touching her chest. That’s when I first inhaled her scent deeply, imprinting it on my memory.

I kneel against her bedroom door, sighing. Please, Adora, don’t let anything bad happen.


	19. Adora

Swift Wind was right: we really had to stay for lunch. I had never tasted one of Razz’s pies before, and I must admit this one was pretty amazing. The fact that she manages to follow all the steps to bake a perfect cake, without forgetting any ingredient or something, it’s kind of crazy. If she was so focused when I ask her questions, my life would be much easier.

“This was delicious, Razz” I exclaim, gulping one last morsel. “Really”

“Thank you, Mara dearie” she grins. “I know you prefer berries, but they’re out of season right now, alas!”

“How could someone possibly choose berries over apples?” snaps Swift Wind. “That is _madness”_

“I actually prefer berries too” I tell him, raising my eyebrow.

“Treason!” he cries, looking shocked. “Our sacred bond will be compromised forever!”

“I could live with that”

He gasps, covering his ears with his wings. “Don’t you ever say that again!” he says in a cracked voice. “You hurt my feelings!”

“Come on, I was just kidding” I chuckle. “Let’s go home now”

“Oh, Adora, wait” says Razz. “I was forgetting something” She sits up and starts rummaging around, mumbling: “Where did I put them, where did I put them, where did I… oh! Here they are” She takes something in her hand and turns around. “Someone told me to give you these. I can’t remember who exactly, and when, but I’m pretty sure she mentioned your name and some kind of glimmer” She opens her hand and my heart skips a beat when I recognize the crystal white droplets: Angella’s earrings! I can’t believe it! It’s really… it’s her!

I take her earrings in my hand, which is shaking uncontrollably. “This is… Razz! This is Angella! You just told me about her! Can you remember anything else? What did she say? When did she give you these?”

“Angella?” she repeats, looking confused. “I don’t know any Angella. That is a funny name, though. I bet she looks like an angel!”

I try to hold my tears back, remembering her kind smile. “Yeah, she does”

“We need to tell Glimmer and the others, let’s go” says Swift Wind in a serious tone.

“I’ll be back, Razz” I tell her, jumping on his back. “If you see Angella, tell her we’re coming for her”

Swift Wind spreads his wings and soars up into the sky with a neigh.

“Make it quick, Swifty” I tell him, squeezing the hand that holds Angella’s earrings.

When we reach Bright Moon, I’m so overexcited I don’t even wait for Swift Wind to touch the ground to jump off his back, landing with a thud.

“Glimmer!” I cry as soon as I get up. “Glimmer, where are you?” I look around the gardens but the only people I see are Scorpia and Perfuma, sitting cross-legged next to each other, probably meditating: at least, they were meditating before I screamed, now they’re just looking at me with surprised faces. 

“Adora! What’s going on?” exclaims Perfuma.

“Emergency meeting, NOW!” I cry, running for the main entrance. “See you inside!”

“I’m coming too!” says Swift Wind, following me.

“No, I need you to fly around, find the others and tell them to come to the meeting room as soon as possible!” I say, still running. “Go!”

“Gotcha!” he nods, soaring again.

I run inside the castle, screaming Glimmer’s name every five seconds until my throat gets sore. I need to find her, I need to tell her about this in private before speaking to everyone else. I don’t stop running until I reach her bedroom, hoping she’ll be there. I don’t even knock, I just swing the door open and burst into the room.

“Glimmer!” I cry, relieved, when I see her with Bow, holding hands. I don’t know what they were up to, but I’m sure she will forgive me for interrupting. “Guys, I need to talk to you” I close the door behind me and get close to them.

“Did you find out anything about the magic?” asks Bow, hopeful.

“Much more than that” I reply in a trembling voice. “Razz told me she saw Angella”

They both gasp, their eyes widened.

“What do you mean?” whispers Glimmer, shaking.

“She saw her, more than once, she said she comes and visit her sometimes” I reply. “And she also gave me these” I open my hand and show the earrings. Glimmer covers her mouth with her hand, shocked, her eyes wet. “She said they’re from Angella”

Glimmer’s trembling hand picks them up, bringing them near her eyes for a closer look. Then she bursts out crying in Bow’s arms. I come closer and hold both of them tight, letting my tears flow.

“It’s really her” Glimmer sobs, her voice muffled. “She’s alive!”

“I can’t believe it” murmurs Bow, smiling. “I was hoping she’d be alive, but I never imagined she would manage to send us a message or even be here!”

“It must be because Razz shifts between dimensions too” I tell them. “I should have thought of it. Entrapta said Angella would be trapped between dimensions, but I think this means that Angella is simply traveling between them, relentlessly! She can’t control where she’s going and she can’t stay long in one dimension, that’s what Razz said”

“We need to tell Entrapta about this!” gasps Bow. “Maybe we won’t need to open a portal, maybe there’s another way to bring Angella back!”

“I called an emergency meeting” I tell them. “Everyone will be in the meeting room in no time. We can discuss it, together”

Glimmer sniffs and finally lifts her head from Bow’s chest. Her cheeks are red and wet with tears. “Thank you, Adora” she whispers in a cracked voice.

“Adora?”

Catra’s voice makes me instantly turn my head: she’s standing in the doorway.

“I heard you screaming” she says in a worried voice, coming forward. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m actually more than okay” I tell her, smiling, and holding my hand out towards her. She takes it and I pull her close. “Angella is alive” I continue. “Razz can see her sometimes, so she’s not exactly trapped between dimensions, it’s more like she travels between them but she can’t stay just in one”

“But she’s alive, that’s all that matters, and she can probably see us, if she can see Razz” says Bow. “We need to catch Entrapta up on this”

“Yeah” I nod. “Let’s go to the meeting room”

Glimmer and Bow go for the door, but I wait till they are out to talk to Catra in private.

“You don’t need to worry” I reassure her, caressing her cheek. “We might be able to sort this out without any portal”

She looks away, skeptical. “We’ll see about that”

“You need to trust me, okay?” I tell her, grabbing her arms. “I’m not as reckless as you think I am. I know when to stop”

“No, you don’t” she murmurs. “You never have”

She breaks free from my grasp and walks away, her tail so low it brushes against the floor.

“You’re right” I whisper, clenching my fists, standing still. “I never know when to stop when it comes to you” She stops in the doorway, waiting for me to go on. “I never stopped running after you and I never will. It doesn’t matter how hard you try and shut me out, I will always reach out to you. So you’d better accept this and stop wasting your time trying to walk away from me. Because I won’t let you do it, never again”

She turns her head, but I don’t give her the time to answer. I walk up to her and take her head in my hands, then I kiss her, _hard_ , forcing my way inside her mouth with my tongue. She moans and kisses me back, grasping my shoulders with her arms and digging her claws inside them.

When we finally pull away, after some time, our foreheads are still touching.

“I need you to understand you are the most important thing in my life, Catra” I whisper. “I would choose you over anything else. Mara told me I’m worth more than what I can give to other people. I understand it, now. I know exactly what I want. I want you, Catra. I love you”

She looks at me with her eyes wet and I know the message got across because the corners of her mouth lift, just a bit. Then she hugs me, burying her face in my chest, letting out a quiet, warm purr. “I love you too, dummy”


	20. Bow

We’re all in the meeting room, carefully listening to Adora as she tells everyone what happened with Razz. When she gets to the point where she explains that Angella is alive, King Micah turns to look at Glimmer, sitting right next to him, with tears in his eyes. I feel so happy at the idea that he might be able to see the love of his life again that I suddenly realize how lucky I am to have Glimmer right by my side, so I take her hand and hold it under the table.

When Adora finally finishes her speech, she looks at Glimmer from across the table and says: “I have proof that Razz was not just raving. Glimmer, show them the earrings” Glimmer opens her hand and lays the earrings on the table. Micah gasps at the sight of them.

“They’re really hers!” he exclaims, his voice filled with emotion. “I… I can’t believe it… my Angella…”

Entrapta suddenly jumps on her feet, looking wildly excited. “OF COURSE!” she cries. “How could I not think about it? She _travels_ between dimensions against her will, helplessly responding to the alterations of magnetic fields occurring incessantly and simultaneously in the maze of possible realities! When she closed the portal her connection to the gravity field of our world was severed, turning her into a multi-dimensional wanderer at the mercy of ripples in the space-time continuum! That is _amazing!”_

I can literally see the confusion in everybody’s looks right now. I know my way around science, but I could hardly follow Entrapta on this one.

“Uuuuh, can you translate that?” asks Mermista, tilting her head.

“What I mean” Entrapta explains, “is that we have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that if Angella is not stuck in a specific, non-dimensional reality, then there is no way we can bring her back into one single dimension. Closing the portal compromised her ability to stay grounded in a specific dimension for long, I’m afraid. If she had been stuck in just one place, as we thought, I could have come up with something that would draw her into our dimension, but since she is constantly shifting…” she sighs, scratching her left arm with a tuft of lilac hair. “I’m afraid there is nothing we can do to fix that, just like there is nothing to do with Razz. Once your body loses its connection to a single dimension, there is no way to restore it, you’ll be a space-time traveler forever”

I turn to look at Glimmer, but her eyes are fixed on Angella’s earrings. I feel my heart sinking at the thought of Angella endlessly traveling between dimensions. Maybe Glimmer was right, maybe hope wasn’t what we needed right now.

“But, there’s some good news too” Entrapta exclaims, smiling. “Now that we know that Angella is actually able to reach our dimension occasionally, I guarantee you we will be able to establish contact, without any portal! Just some pretty advanced science. If you let me work on this, I can find a way to get you to talk to her!”

“Are you serious?” I ask her, amazed. “How?”

“I have some ideas, but I’m gonna need Hordak’s help, I can’t do this alone” she looks at Glimmer with an uncertain expression. “He can really help me… help _us_ with this, if you just give him a chance”

“I…” murmurs Glimmer, hesitant. “I don’t know…”

“I got this” I exclaim, determined. “Glimmer, let them work together. I will be with them, the whole time. I will make sure Hordak doesn’t try anything and, at the same time, I will do my best to help Entrapta with whatever she needs. I’m sure she could use an extra pair of hands. After all, I’m the Rebellion’s tech master” I wink at Glimmer, trying to infuse her with courage. “Trust me, we can do this”

She looks at me in silence for a couple of seconds, then, at last, she smiles and squeezes my hand under the table. “Okay, Bow. I trust you. Let’s try this”

“YES!” cries Sea Hawk, suddenly stepping on the table. “ADVENTURE!”

“Uuuuh, you actually have no part in this” Mermista points out. “ _Our_ adventure will be rebuilding Salineas”

“Well… that’s… pretty adventurous…” he exclaims, slowly sitting down, doing his best not to show his enthusiasm was brutally killed.

“Mermista’s right” says King Micah. “We will leave this mission to Bow, Entrapta, and Hordak only. We can’t put the rebuilding of Etheria on hold, you princesses need your kingdoms back, and so do your people. We are responsible for them”

“You’re right, dad” says Glimmer. “Here’s what we’ll do: I will supervise the reconstruction of the kingdoms, helping out wherever I can. I think each princess should take care of their own kingdom. Dad, you will stay here and watch over Bright Moon while I’m gone, okay? As for the Fright Zone…” she pauses for a while, as if she was reflecting on something, then she goes on. “Adora, Catra, and Scorpia grew up there, so I think it’s up to you to decide what to do with it. If you want to rebuild it, you should go together and then decide who is going to rule it. I’m certainly not giving it back to Hordak, so… I guess it’s up to you”

Adora, Catra, and Scorpia exchange hesitant looks: they all seem kind of uncomfortable.

“I would… like to rebuild the Fright Zone” says Catra, timidly. “I’d be happy to go”

“Me too” Adora nods. “We can’t just leave the Horde soldiers behind. There are good people among them, they deserve a home”

“I agree with you” says Scorpia, “I’d like to go too, but… I kind of promised Perfuma I would help with the reconstruction of Plumeria. They could really use my help there: my pincers can come in handy, you know”

“It’s okay” says Adora. “You go with Perfuma. Catra and I will go to the Fright Zone”

“I will go with you!” says Entrapta. “I need to take some equipment from Hordak’s lab, so that I’ll have everything I need back in my castle”

“Fine. I’ll teleport you guys there” Glimmer agrees. “Every group should have a tracker pad so that you can let me know if you need me to come and teleport you back here or somewhere else. Bow, how many tracker pads do we have right now?”

I scratch my chin and do a quick count in my head. “Probably just three. I should check if they all work. But I’m pretty quick at making them, I can definitely start working on it”

“Perfect” she smiles. “Alright then, I think that’s all for now. I’ll go to the Fright Zone with Entrapta, Catra, and Adora. When I get back, just let me know whenever you’re ready to go back to your kingdoms”

“Well, I’m in no hurry” says Frosta, crossing her hands behind her head. “I’m having a pretty good time here”

“You can stay as long as you want” Glimmer replies with a warm smile. “Now, let’s go”

“Glimmer, wait” I tell her. “Can we talk for a sec before you leave?”

“Sure” she says. Then she turns to the others. “Entrapta, Adora, Catra, I’ll be right back. Wait for me here”

Then she grabs my hand and teleports us in her bedroom.

“What is it?” she asks me.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay” I confess, worried. “I mean, you were great back in there, you sounded like you know exactly what you’re doing, but… I know you’re having a hard time. And I’m sorry for not understanding how you felt about the portal. I should have respected that. I was oversimplifying things, I’m sorry”

She gives me a warm smile and lifts her hand to caress my cheek. “It’s okay. I know you meant well. I was kind of harsh, too. But after messing up with the Heart of Etheria, I feel so much pressure when it comes to making hard decisions. I just want to do my best, as a friend, but also as a queen… and… sometimes I’m not sure the two things can correspond”

No wonder she’s still thinking about the Heart. I was horrible to her after we rescued her from Prime’s clutches. But I was so… _angry,_ I couldn’t help it. I’m never angry, so I don’t know how to deal with it when I get mad. She made the wrong choice, sure, but she was also manipulated by Shadow Weaver, it’s not like she knew what she was doing exactly.

“Hey, don’t worry” I murmur, taking her hand into mine. “You’ve been doing great. As a queen, as a friend, and also as… you know…” I feel my cheeks blushing. “I just want you to know that I’m proud of you”

She stares at me for a couple of seconds, then she stands on her tiptoes and presses her lips against mine, taking me by surprise. We had never kissed before. I feel my whole body melting from the inside, my mind going blank. Wow, that feels good.

When she pulls away, I see she’s blushing too. “Uhm… I…” I stutter, trying to get my brain to work again.

“I want you to have one of these” she says, showing me Angella’s earrings.

“W-what?” I exclaim, getting more and more amazed. “No, I can’t, you⸺”

“Bow, listen” she interrupts me. “My mother told me she and dad used to wear matching earrings. It’s a way to show you belong with someone. She wanted me to have these, so it’s up to me to decide what to do with them. And I want you to have one because we…” she stops for a second, looking for the right words. “We belong together”

I smile, deeply moved, and feel my heart melting as I take one of the earrings into my hand. I look at Glimmer and I see Angella’s reflection in her warm, kind smile.


	21. Catra

Adora, Entrapta, and I are waiting for Sparkles in the meeting room, and since it’s just the three of us, I decide to take the opportunity to ask Entrapta a few frank questions.

“So, are you sure your idea is going to work?” I tell her. “Or is it going to be just another dangerous experiment?”

“No danger at all!” she squeaks. “I know exactly how to create a safe alteration of the magnetic field, I’ve been studying all the possible side effects for years! I just need to figure out how to create a dimensional warp that will not suck the rest of the planet into it!”

“WHAT?” I shriek.

“Oh, it sounds more dangerous than it really is” she smiles, trying to reassure me, without much success. “Hordak and I have been working on this kind of tests, we know how to handle any imbalances. That’s why we wouldn’t have opened that portal in the first place, we knew it was dangerous! And so did you! But you see, that’s the difference: no offense, Catra, but you are not a scientist, so you couldn’t know what would have happened for sure. Tech should only be handled by scientists, otherwise, it _does_ get dangerous. But right now, you should trust me. Being a scientist is about knowing the risks and find a way to work around them, and that’s exactly what I’ll do! I promise I won’t put any of us in danger, you have my word”

I take a deep breath, trying to push aside my doubts. I’m in no position to distrust Entrapta, actually: I was the one who lied to her and manipulated her in the first place, and then I betrayed her and sent her to die rather than listening to her warnings about the portal. I’d better start making it up to her, and maybe trusting her with this is a good start.

“Fine” I sigh, finally. “Just… keep an eye on Hordak, ‘kay? I know you… like him, or whatever, but just be careful, please”

“That’s why Bow will be there” Adora says. “I’m sure it will be fine, Catra”

She places her hand on my shoulder, something she does every time she wants to reassure me, and for some reason it always works. I smile at her, feeling lighter after the talk we had in Sparkles’s room. I mean, the talk and _that_ kiss. That kiss blew my mind. Perfuma forgot to mention that another way to deal with your problems is getting kissed hard by your girlfriend, I guess. My girlfriend…

“So, what are we going to do when we get to the Fright Zone?” Adora asks me.

“I need to find Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio” I tell her. “I owe them an apology. I treated them so bad, you have no idea…”

“Well, I should probably apologize too” she murmurs, thoughtful. “They were my friends too and I didn’t think twice about fighting them. I would really like to make it up to them, if they give me the chance”

“You know Lonnie” I chuckle. “It’s not gonna be that easy with her”

Our conversation is interrupted by Sparkles’s sudden appearance. I notice she has switched her previous earring with one of her mother’s. I wonder where’s the other one.

“Are you guys ready to go?” she asks us.

The three of us exchange a quick look and nod. “Let’s go”

When we teleport in the Fright Zone, at first I seriously think Sparkles has taken us to the wrong place: we’re standing on a smooth, green carpet of grass, and the metal buildings are all covered in vines and all kinds of vegetation. The air is clean, fresh, even scented. I can barely recognize the once dark, smoky, creepy Fright Zone.

“Can you believe it?” Adora murmurs in awe. “We did this”

“ _You_ did this, dummy” I tell her softly, caressing her arm.

“Faaaaaascinating” exclaims Entrapta. “I wonder if the vegetation has affected the electrical system somehow”

“We’ll find it out” says Sparkles. “We’re going to Hordak’s lab. Adora, take this” She pulls out a tracker pad and hands it to Adora. “I’ve got mine. If there is anything you need, just call me, ‘kay? We’ll be around for a while”

“Sure” says Adora. Then Sparkles and Entrapta walk away towards the main entrance, leaving me and Adora alone.

“Sooooo” I start, “what do you wanna do?”

“Let’s go look for Lonnie and the others” she answers. “They must be around here somewhere”

I look around and I can actually see some Horde soldiers, still in their armors: none of them has noticed we’re here yet. Probably the rest of the army is inside, but I guess Sparkles can deal with them.

Adora and I start walking around, looking for our… friends, if we can still call them that. All Adora did was leaving them, but I treated them so bad I wouldn’t be surprised if they decided not to talk to me at all.

“I see them!” suddenly exclaims Adora, pointing at a not-to-distant hill where Lonnie and the others are sitting in a circle. “Let’s go!”

She starts running in their direction, and I wonder how she can be so confident about this whole situation: I’m definitely uncomfortable and anxious. When we finally reach the top of the hill, Lonnie and the others turn to face us.

“Guys!” exclaims Adora, grinning. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Adora?” smiles Kyle.

“Catra?” frowns Lonnie.

“Rrrroargh?” grunts Rogelio, and I notice he’s carrying Imp, Hordak’s pet, in a baby carrier. Did they adopt him or something??

“Hey guys” I chuckle, timidly, scratching behind my neck. “Uhm… how you doing?”

“What are _you_ doing together?” snaps Lonnie, getting up. “I thought you wanted her gone, Catra”

“Yeah, about that…” I murmur, looking away. “Things have kind of changed, you know…”

“Oh, you mean you finally got the guts to tell her you like her?”

Adora laughs while my face turns completely red. Damn, this is so embarrassing I wish I could sink through the floor. “Yeah, whatever” I grunt.

“So you guys knew it?” asks Adora, still laughing.

“Everyone suspected it, actually” says Kyle. “Even _I_ noticed, and this speaks volumes”

“Okay enough about this!” I snap. “It’s not why we’re here”

“And why are you here, then?” asks Lonnie, reluctant. “Why did you come back? You think you’re welcome here? Because you’re not”

Now I really wish I could sink through the floor. I can feel the weight of shame and regret growing like a physical presence on my shoulders.

“Hey, Lonnie, let me explain…” starts Adora.

“And neither are you!” she interrupts her, abruptly. “You think we just forgot how you turned your back on us? How you spent the last few years fighting us as if we were your enemy? You two are really perfect for each other: you both have the guts to expect to be forgiven just like that”

“No, that’s not how it is” Adora explains, mortified. “I know it can’t be that easy. I don’t expect anything from you guys. I’m just here to say I’m sorry, for everything. I… I regret leaving you guys like that, I know I should have found a way to leave the Horde with all of you, leaving no one behind. I’m so sorry”

“And I’m sorry for treating you the way I did when I was in charge” I add, unable to look at them in the eyes. “I… I was horrible, I know. I was spinning out of control, I didn’t mean to… I know it sounds stupid, but I was not myself. I know you all hate me, but I still wanted to apologize”

“We don’t hate you, Catra” says Kyle, smiling.

“Speak for yourself” grunts Lonnie, crossing her arms.

“I mean, yeah” he chuckles. “You gave us a hard time, but, you know, we still grew up together”

Rogelio grunts in approval, but I still see the reluctance in Lonnie’s eyes.

“I don’t know about Rogelio and Kyle” she says, “but _I_ am not gonna forgive you that easy. I don’t trust you, either of you. We used to look out for each other when we were kids, but clearly it never meant anything to you. You just cared for each other”

“That’s not true!” Adora protests.

“No, it is” I admit, closing my eyes. “She’s right. It’s always been the two of us. But still…” I take a deep breath and finally look at Lonnie in the eyes. “I still cared for you guys. Especially when I felt like I was losing myself. I realized I missed having you around, but I wasn’t ready to reach out to you. I was so… _angry_ at myself for that. I wanted to be a good friend, but something held me back, something I had to face, fight and overcome. And now I did it. I’m trying to be a better person. So… it’s okay if you keep on hating me, I deserve it, but… whenever you’re ready, just know that I’d be glad to be friends again”

Adora looks at me, quite impressed, and I see her smiling. I guess I did a good job.

“Yeah, whatever” snaps Lonnie. “So what are you doing here, anyway?”

“We’re here to help rebuild the Fright Zone” says Adora. “This place is the only home the Horde soldiers have… well, the _ex-_ Horde soldiers have. So we didn’t want to leave it in ruins”

“How nice of you” Lonnie scoffs. “And what makes you think we need your help?”

“Well… I’m…” she chuckles nervously. “You know… eheh… _She-Ra!_ I bet you could use my help moving heavy stuff around”

“You haven’t changed a bit, uh?” replies Lonnie, giving a hint of a smile. “You’re still a cocky dumbass”

I laugh, feeling the tension among us slightly decreasing. “Yup, she is” I confirm.

“Ahhh, guys, I’m so glad we can all be friends again!” exclaims Kyle, stars in his eyes.

“Hey! I never said that!” Lonnie protests. “We’re not _friends,_ we’re just… not enemies anymore, I guess”

“That’s enough for me” I smile.

Lonnie gives us one last, skeptical look before letting out a deep sigh. “If you want my trust back, you’ll have to earn it. Anyway, you’d better go and grab your things, if there’s anything you want to take with you, because we’re going to rebuild this whole place from scratch”

“From scratch?” repeats Adora, confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that from now on, this place will be ours, and ours only” she replies, firmly. “There is no Horde anymore, so there’s no need for this place to look like a Horde base. I want to pull it all down and build a new home for us. We’ve been discussing this with the others, they all agree. We don’t want this place to look like a damn dump anymore”

“Well, the growing vegetation might do the job” says Adora with a proud smile. “I could definitely help with that. Cheering up the surroundings, I mean”

“Sure!” exclaims Kyle. “This place looks so much better with all these trees and bushes and⸺”

“As I was saying,” Lonnie goes on, interrupting Kyle, who doesn’t seem to get offended for it, as usual. “We’re planning to build it from scratch so that it doesn’t look like a military base. No dorms, but single bedrooms, for a start. That’s why you should go to the dorms if there’s something you want to take, ‘cause that’s the first place we’re gonna pull down”

“And where will you sleep in the meantime?” asks Adora, worried.

“Not a problem, we’ll just move the mattresses somewhere”

“It will take ages to rebuild it all on your own” says Adora. “Just… let me help you. With She-Ra, we could do it all in a couple of months, I’m sure”

Lonnie is about to reply, but Rogelio barges in and starts growling something incomprehensible to her. She listens for a whole minute as if she was really trying to understand what he’s saying. Then she crosses her arms and shrugs. “Fine, whatever” she sighs, finally. “We’ll let you help us. But this doesn’t mean we’re good, got it?”

Adora and I exchange a relieved look and reply in unison: “Got it”


	22. Adora

It feels so strange to walk down these corridors with Catra after all this time. The last time we were around this area of the Fright Zone together it was just a fake reality created by the portal… I wonder if she’s thinking about it too. She’s being pretty quiet, actually.

“You okay?” I ask her, a bit worried.

“Yeah, sure” she replies, distractedly.

“So… is there anything you want to take from the dorms?”

“I guess I just wanted to say goodbye to that place, actually” she murmurs, looking down. “Don’t get me wrong: I hate this place and I’m glad that Lonnie wants to pull it down. But still… we grew up in here. We slept in those beds. We… we used to stay up late while all the other cadets were asleep, remember?” She’s smiling now, recalling those memories. “We did that a lot. You complained because you wanted to get some rest so that you could get up early in the morning, but I wouldn’t let you sleep”

I laugh, nudging her shoulder. “Yeah, you were such a nightmare! But still, I must admit I loved our sleepovers”

“Like the one we had last night?”

I freeze for a second, as my mind quickly recalls some images from last night. Especially the one where I pinned her against the wall, or when she was lying in bed with her back turned and… I feel my cheeks blushing hard and my heartbeat accelerating.

“Y-yeah…” I murmur, fixing my eyes on the floor. “That was… uh… quite a sleepover”

She chuckles, timidly, and I stealthily glance at her to see if she’s blushing too: she is.

“How is your back, anyway? Feeling better?” she asks me.

“Oh yeah, yeah, definitely!” I answer quickly, glad she changed the subject. “Told you, it’s not a big deal. I’m okay, really. And to be honest I didn’t really mind the scratches in the first place, I mean, when you… uh…” Geez, why am I like this? How is it possible that I always end up making our talks so awkward? “You know, I… I mean, it’s okay with me if you do that, the scratches felt pretty… uhm, good, I guess…?”

“Good?” she repeats, looking quite confused. “Didn’t they hurt you?”

“Well yes, but actually no” I giggle, nervously, not really knowing how to explain this. “Uhm… let’s say I didn’t mind them in that… uh… _context?”_

She gives me an interrogative look and one moment later she bursts out laughing. “You should see your face right now” she says, teasing me. “You’re blushing _so_ hard, princess”

“S-shut up!” I snap, punching her shoulder. “You’re blushing too!”

“Yeah, but I can get a hold of myself”

“Well, it seems to me that _you_ couldn’t get a hold of yourself last night”

She flattens her ears and puffs up her tail, giving me a panicking look. “Wh-what?” she scoffs. “You’re one to talk! _You_ turned into _She-Ra!”_

“Yeah well _that_ wasn’t exactly intentional, you know” 

“I noticed” she says, biting her lips. “That’s why it was pretty awesome”

I look into her eyes and I find it really hard to resist the urge to pin her against the wall and kiss her. But then again… why should I resist it? I’m done letting this place repress my feelings, I’ve done that for way too long. So I grab her neck with my hands and start to kiss her while moving forward, forcing her to step back until she touches the wall. She responds to the kiss, letting out a low, excited growl. I lift my knee up and slightly press it in between her legs, causing her to gasp. She pulls away to catch her breath and chuckles. “You know, I’m having a déjà vu. Last time you pressed your knee around there we were having a blast at Princess Prom”

“Yeah, but that time it wasn’t intentional” I reply with a smirk. “It was more like a reflex. But _this,”_ I press my knee harder against her, “ _this_ is very intentional, for the record”

“You don’t say” she murmurs, alluringly. “I hate to ruin this moment, princess, but this is not exactly the right place or the right time for this”

“Yeah, I know” I snort, stepping back, reluctantly. “I just wanted to wipe that smirk off your face”

“You’ll never get rid of it” she grins.

“You’re infuriating” I chuckle, shaking my head. Then we keep on walking towards the dorms, holding hands.

When we finally reach them, my head gets lost in nostalgia. I haven’t been in this area of the Fright Zone since the day I left the Horde. My eyes immediately recognize my bed, one of the last ones to the right. My feet seem to become heavier the closer I get to it. Catra seems uncomfortable too, because I can feel her grip on my hand stiffening.

“It feels so… strange” I murmur when we stop right in front of our beds. “Being here after all these years. Wait, what…” I narrow my eyes and look closely at the sketch of our faces we drew near the pillow when we were kids. My heart seems to sink down when I recognize Catra’s scratches on my face. I feel her hand shaking weakly.

“Adora, I…” she murmurs, placing her free hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to see that. It means nothing, you know that, right? It’s all in the past now”

Still, I find it hard to look away from it. It feels like I’m facing the pain I caused her when I left, and somehow I know I _had_ to see this before we let bygones be bygones. “You must have hated me so much” I tell her, still avoiding eye contact.

“I never hated you” she whispers. She gently pulls my shoulder to make me turn and face her. “I thought I did, I won’t deny it, but… I didn’t really hate _you_ , more like I hated myself for not being able to hate you. I just… missed you, all the time. That’s what I really hated. Missing you”

I smile at her, tenderly, and caress her cheek. She tilts her head against my hand, raising hers to grab my wrist. “I’m sorry you had to feel that way” I tell her. “I won’t let it happen again. No matter what happens, I’ll stay with you”

She finally smiles back at me, looking relieved. “It feels good to be back here, with you” she says. “It’s like we’ve come full circle, and now we’re ready to start over”

“Yeah” I agree, looking around me with a smile. “We are”

“But first, there’s something I want to take” she says, going towards the locker room. I follow her, curious.

“What would that be?” I ask her.

She doesn’t reply and goes straight to her locker and opens it. I see her eyes glowing for a moment, then she pulls out something I immediately recognize: her black, fingerless gloves. I stare in silence as she wears them: the long sleeve with the red diamond on the shoulder fits her arm so well I find myself almost drooling over her.

“Hey, checking me out, princess?” she teases me when she’s done.

“N-no” I play it down, but secretly panicking. “You just… you look good with those”

“Oh, I know. I also looked pretty good in this one” she says pulling out something else from the locker: it’s the jacket she had in the Crimson Waste. She looks at it for a while, but she doesn’t wear it. It seems like she’s thinking about something.

“You know what?” she finally says, looking at me and handing me the jacket. “Take it. Try switching it with your jacket”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it, dummy, I want to see how it looks on you”

I shrug and mumble: “Fine”. I unfasten my belt, quickly remove my jacket and wear hers, feeling kind of strange, since I haven’t changed my outfit in a veeeeery long time.

“So? How do I look?” I ask her. But I can actually read the answer on her face: her eyes are widened and there’s a trace of blush on her cheeks. “Well, I guess I look pretty good” I brag, placing my hands on my hips.

“Get over yourself” she says, but I can tell she’s drooling.

“You know what? I’ve been wearing that red jacket for too long. I guess I’ll stick with this one, if you don’t mind”

“Oh!” she exclaims, scratching the back of her head, blushing harder. “Well… that would be… sure, I don’t mind it. It’s yours now”

I grin and take a look at my reflection in the mirror. I must say this jacket _does_ look better than the red one. I feel more… _badass_.

“I like wearing something that used to belong to you” I say, adjusting the jacket on my shoulders. “What if I give you something of mine too?”

“Like what?” she asks. “Don’t even think about that red jacket. I don’t like it, not even a bit”

I scratch my chin, pensively. “Wait, I got an idea” I pick up my jacket from the ground and I brutally tear up a sleeve, just like that.

“What are you doing?” Catra asks me, confused.

“Here, check this out” I wrap the piece of cloth around her arm, the one covered by the black, long sleeve, and tie a knot so that now it looks like a band. “How about this?”

Catra turns to look at herself in the mirror and I can tell by the look on her face that she likes it. “I must say this is quite a creative solution” she says. “Not bad, dummy”

“You know, if I’m going to wear your jacket open, I don’t even need my brooch, so… Why don’t we exchange our belts? Your black one matches perfectly with this jacket”

Catra tilts her head, pondering over it for a moment, then she nods in agreement. When we’re done exchanging our belts, we both look at our reflection in the mirror and smile, satisfied. It warms my heart to see my golden wing brooch on Catra’s waist.

“Wait” exclaims Catra, grinning. “I have a crazy idea. Do you trust me?”

“Uuuuuuhm” I hesitate. “Maybe?”

“Shut up and wait here. I’ll be back in a minute”

“Catra, what⸺” I can’t finish my sentence because she has already run away. I snort and cross my arms, waiting for her to return. A couple of minutes later, she comes back with a chair, a pair of scissors and an electric razor.

“What do you think you’re doing with those??” I squeak, worried. 

“Ok, calm down” she sneers. “I’ve watched Scorpia doing it a billion times, I know how to do it”

“Do _what?”_

“Shave your hair”

“DO WHAT?” I shriek. “I’m not gonna let you shave my hair off, Catra!”

“I’m not gonna shave _all of it_ , dummy, relax” she chuckles. “I’m just thinking about giving you an even more badass look, and that requires a hairstyle change”

“I’m perfectly fine with my hair, thank you very much” I snap, reaching for my hair puff.

“I won’t touch your stupid puff, I promise” she says, rolling her eyes. “Can’t you just trust me with this?”

“Of course not!! It’s my hair we’re talking about!” I protest, crossing my arms.

“Look, Adora, I don’t blame you for not trusting me with an electric razor, but I _promise_ I mean well. If the hair turns out like I think it will, you will look amazing, my word”

“But why would I even want to cut it?” I insist.

“Because it’s a way to show you want to start anew, I guess” she replies, shrugging. “You changed your damn jacket, why not your hair too?”

I scratch my head and look down, still hesitant. “I don’t know…” I mumble.

“Hey, just trust me” she tells me with a warm voice. “I know what I’m doing”

She pushes the chair forward, inviting me to sit down. I look into her heterochromatic eyes and finally decide to let my guard down. “Fine” I sigh, taking off my ‘new’ jacket and sitting down, facing my reflection in the mirror. “Just don’t mess with it, okay?”

She bites her lips, satisfied, and unties my ponytail. She takes a moment to run her fingers through my hair, tenderly. “You’re beautiful with your hair down, you know that? But since you love your ponytail so much, I will turn it into the _best ponytail ever”_

“It’s already the best ponytail ever” I mumble.

“Shut up. Put your head down”

I obey, sighing anxiously. I can’t believe I’m seriously letting her do this. But I guess she’s right though: new haircut, new outfit, new life, right? Catra holds almost all of my hair up and separates the rest with her other hand, using her claw to trace a line in between. Then she quickly ties the upper portion of my hair in a ponytail again and orders me to hold it still with my hand. I obey, meekly. When I suddenly feel the scissors blades cutting a tuft of hair, I flinch, panicking. “Oh-my-god I can’t look” I squeak, closing my eyes. 

“Then don’t” she giggles. “Just hold still. I’ll tell you when to open your eyes, okay?”

I gulp and try not to panic. I take a deep breath and do my best to relax, even though it’s not easy, feeling the scissors cutting my precious hair. After a couple of minutes, Catra switches to the razor, running it up and down my head, right where she had previously cut my hair with the scissors. I really hope she knows what she’s doing.

When she’s done with the back of my head, she gently lifts it up and goes for the sides, shaving the hair right above my ears, not saying a word in the meantime. She must be really focused on her work. Well, I surely hope she is.

“Almost done” she says after something like ten minutes. “Now, just some finishing touches and…” I can feel her claws pulling out a tuft of hair from my puff. “Okay, I’m done. _Now_ you can open your eyes”

I take a deep breath before I manage to collect the courage to do it. But when I finally do, I hold my breath in awe: she gave me an undercut! My hair is still tied up in a ponytail, but both the back and the sides of my head are shaved, leaving my hair super short. Plus, there’s a tuft of hair coming out of my puff, partially covering my right eye.

“Wow…” I exhale, smiling. “It looks… _pretty_ , I guess! Do you think it’s pretty?”

“You look beautiful, princess” she says with a satisfied grin. “And, actually, I have one more finishing touch, if you let me”

“What is it?”

“Just… close your eyes. It might hurt, maybe for one sec, but it’s going to look great”

“Wait, what?”

“Hey, trust me. I’ve just given you the best hairstyle ever, after all”

She’s not wrong, actually. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. Then I feel Catra’s sharp claw on my left eyebrow. 

“Hey what are you⸺OUCH!” I yell as her claw suddenly cuts me. “WHAT THE⸺”

“Sorry, sorry” she chuckles. “But I had to do this. Take a look”

I open my eyes, trying to ignore the burning sensation on my eyebrow. When I see myself reflected in the mirror, I notice there’s a slit on my eyebrow, right where Catra cut me with her claw. It looks… _pretty badass_ , I must say.

“You like it?” asks Catra. “Because I personally think you look awesome”

I get up and study my reflection in the mirror: it really seems like I’m a whole new person, but at the same time it still feels like… me. I like it. Catra was right: new life, new look, new Adora.

“You did a good job” I tell her, grinning. “But now I’m all covered in hair… what a mess” I try and shake some of it off my neck, without much success.

Catra scratches her chin, acting thoughtful, then she smirks at me: “Well, I guess we’ll have to wash it away, then. Wanna take a shower?”

Ooooooh, I know where this is going. Nice move, Catra. I smirk back at her, biting my lips: “Sure I do”


	23. Catra

It’s not like I’m nervous about taking a shower with Adora. I mean, I’m not a big fan of water, either, but after that trip to Mystacor, I’m starting to appreciate it more. Anyway, it’s too late to back down, I was the one who suggested it, after all. But still… when Adora turns on the water faucet my heart starts pounding like crazy. It’s not like we haven’t seen each other naked before. In fact, we even used to shower together when we were toddlers, at least until Shadow Weaver found it out and forbade us to do that again. I couldn’t understand why, it just felt so natural to me. But as we grew up, I started to get it. I started feeling butterflies in my stomach whenever Adora got changed in the locker room, or when she held me tight on freezing nights because she was so cold and my half-feline body temperature kept her warm. I wonder how is it possible that she didn’t notice I had feelings for her. To me, it was almost impossible to hide it.

“Okay, the water is hot enough” she says, bringing me back to the present. “Let’s make this quick. You get in first, I’ll get some towels”

Before I can even reply, she walks away, leaving me alone. I take a deep breath and start to undress, slowly. I leave all my clothes on a stool nearby and then I get inside the shower box, closing the thin, white curtain behind me. There are no walls between the different shower boxes, just curtains. There was no such thing as privacy in the Fright Zone. Anyone could open the curtains at any time. Kyle got that a lot. My bad, I was usually the one who pranked him.

I feel my whole body relaxing when the hot water starts streaming down my curves. I let out a growl of pleasure, running my hands through my hair. Sometimes I forget it’s so short. It used to take me ages to shower, untangling all the knots in my long, voluminous hair. And now… it feels so strange.

“Hey you in there?” asks Adora suddenly, making me flinch. “I got the towels. I’m coming in, ‘kay?”

“S-sure” I stutter, blushing. Geez, get a hold of yourself, Catra. It’s just Adora. Naked… in a shower… with her brand-new hairstyle… and an eyebrow slit… oh god this was a terrible idea.

When I hear the curtain sliding, I instinctively turn my back, facing the wall, as my tail wraps around my legs, as if it could cover my nudity. Okay, you got this. Just turn around… just…

The sudden touch of Adora’s arms around me takes me by surprise, causing all my fur to puff up.

“Hey, relax” she chuckles, warmly. “It’s just me” She holds me from behind and rests her head on my shoulder, letting out a relieved sigh. Feeling her naked body against mine is enough to shake off all my anxiety. I close my eyes and start to purr, loudly, bathing in this peaceful moment. Sorry, Shadow Weaver. You’re not gonna ruin it this time.

We stand in silence for some time, letting the running water be the only sound around us. Then Adora starts scratching behind my ears, gentle strokes at first, but then increasing the pressure more and more, sending shivers down my spine.

“Enjoying this?” she whispers.

“You bet” I chuckle, unable to control my purring, which keeps on growing louder. Yep, water is definitely not so bad when Adora is around.

“We’d better hurry, though” she says. “We can’t stay in here forever”

“Can’t we?”

She chuckles and pulls my shoulder gently to make me turn towards her. “Nope, but I wish we could”

I try not to check her out, now that she’s standing naked right in front of me, her hair down her shoulders. But it’s really difficult to stop myself from staring. She’s beautiful.

She leans over to give me a tender kiss on the forehead, then she takes the bar of soap, rubs her hands against it until they become foamy, and smiles at me, raising the slitted eyebrow. “Come on, we don’t have all day” She hands me the soap and starts rubbing her hands all over her body, washing away what is left of the hair I cut.

Even though I’m starting to like water, I still hate soap. It’s just so… slimy, I hardly ever use it. It’s not like I need it, anyway. Hot water works just fine.

“Come on, Catra” says Adora, reading my mind. “Don’t make me do it for you”

“I’m perfectly clean without it” I protest.

“No, you’re not”

“Yes, I am”

“No, you’re not!”

“YES, I am!”

“NO, YOU⸺”

“Are you two finished?” grunts a voice coming from outside the shower box, making me and Adora freeze instantly. It’s Sparkles.

“Can we have some privacy??” I snap, growling.

“How did you know we were here?” asks Adora, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

“I tried to call you on the tracker pad, but you weren’t picking up. So I started teleporting around until I heard your voices coming from here. Now, can you finish whatever it is you’re doing and come out? There’s something important I need to tell you”

“I’m not coming out until you are standing right there, Sparkles” I grunt.

“Don’t worry, Catra, seeing you naked is not on my to-do-list. I’ll be waiting in the corridor down there, alright?”

She’s so damn lucky I can’t go out right now, otherwise I’d have jumped at her and probably strangled her. Adora notices the fierce look on my face and chuckles, washing away the last trace of soap from her body and turning off the water faucet.

“Next time you’re using soap” she warns me.

“Whatever” I mumble, glad I’ve been spared this torture.

I wait until I hear Sparkles’s footsteps are distant to come out of the shower box, cautiously.

“Come on” chuckles Adora, literally pushing me out. “You’re safe, Glimmer is down there”

I grunt and quickly grab my clothes from the stool. It feels strange to wear Adora’s golden brooch on my belt, but it’s strange in a good way: it makes me… proud. I used to wear the force captain brooch there, and I thought that made me proud, but the truth is that it didn’t last long. I used to look at that brooch when I was alone, and all I felt was guilt, shame. I tried my best to fight it, but I had started to hate that brooch. It was like a curse, something I couldn’t get rid of, something that would stick with me forever. But now it’s finally over. The Horde is over. I freed myself from that curse. But if there’s one thing in the world I’d like to stick with forever… that’s Adora. That’s why this golden wing makes me proud: I’m finally wearing something that reminds me of that one good thing in my life, that one good choice. When I also wrap Adora’s jacket’s sleeve around my arm, and I see her wearing my black jacket, it all feels just… right. She ties her hair in a ponytail that now shows the shaved sides of her head and I can’t help feeling proud of my work: she looks stunning.

When we reach Sparkles at the end of the corridor, she widens her eyes and her mouth drops open in surprise. “What… how… Adora! Your hair!” she stutters, blushing.

“Would you believe Catra did it?” says Adora. “She cut and shaved my hair and did this eyebrow thing”

“What do you think, Sparkles?” I smirk. “Pretty good job, uh?”

“Well… sure!” she replies, still looking shocked. “And with this jacket, I must say you look more badass and less idiot”

“I’ll take that as a compliment” says Adora, grinning.

“Never mind, with that grin you still look like an idiot” I sneer, nudging her shoulder.

“What happened to that red jacket?” asks Sparkles.

I point at the band around my arm and Sparkles gives me an approving look. “Wow, you two really got creative today”

“Yep” nods Adora, proud. “So, you said you had something important to tell us. What’s that?”

“Take my hand” she replies. “I’ll take you to Hordak’s lab. Entrapta will explain”


	24. Adora

When we teleport to Hordak’s lab, we find Entrapta typing crazily fast with both her fingers and her hair on her computer’s keyboard, connected to Hordak’s through a long, white cable.

“You’re here!” she squeaks without even bothering to turn her head. “I already told Glimmer, I found something!”

“Something?” asks Catra, tilting her head. “Like what?”

“I connected my computer to Hordak’s in order to transfer all his files into my hard disk so that I could have all the analysis I need to proceed with the study of the electromagnetic field, since Hordak and I had been working on it and also ran a couple of tests whose results will help me narrow the search⸺”

“Entrapta, please, get to the point!” Glimmer interrupts her.

“Fine, fine!” she exclaims. “The point is that I found a hidden folder in Hordak’s computer: I had never seen it before, and he never told me about it. It was heavily protected by a series of passwords, but I managed to hack into the folder in no time, eheh!”

“A hidden folder?” I murmur, furrowing my brow. “What was in it?”

“Coordinates!” she cries, excited. “Secret coordinates! And the coding is so unusual, I had never seen it before! It’s like, they transform!”

“What do you mean, transform?”

“They change!” Entrapta yells, clenching her firsts with a wild smile. “I opened the folder once and I got a series of numbers and letters and other strange symbols, then I reopened it a couple of minutes later and that sequence was different! Which means, I am sure about two things, for now”

“What would those be?” I ask, puzzled.

“First: these coordinates are not about a place in Etheria. My computer didn’t recognize the coding, so they must be indicating somewhere else. This leads us to my second intuition: these coordinates mark a place in SPACE and, although I’m not a hundred percent sure about this, I think that this place moves, relentlessly! That would explain why the coordinates change! They must be linked to that place, or whatever that is, and follow its movements in space!”

“Entrapta, wait” I interrupt her, getting more and more confused. “I don’t understand. Why are we talking about this? Why should these changing coordinates concern us?”

“Because” she exclaims in a captivating voice, “I managed to upload these coordinates on Hordak’s space radar and by analyzing a combination of ten different sequences and visualizing them on the digital space map, I found out the plausible trajectory of that moving place, which led me to understand that…” she pauses for dramatic effect, widening her eyes, “…whatever this thing is, it’s coming right towards Etheria”

“W-what?” I gasp, frowning. “Are you sure?”

“Definitely” she nods with enthusiasm. “And according to my calculations, if this thing keeps moving at a constant speed, it will reach Etheria in a matter of days. Maybe two, probably three”

I hear Catra’s accelerated breath and I turn to look at her: she’s looking down, frowning, clearly upset.

“Hey, it’s okay” I try to reassure her, taking her hand. “We don’t even know what it is, maybe it’s not bad”

“But still, we’d better be ready” says Glimmer, crossing her arms. “And most importantly, we need to go back and talk to Hordak. Why were these coordinates hidden? He must be plotting something, I knew it!”

“I don’t think so” Entrapta replies, scratching the back of her head with a tuft of hair. “Maybe he was hiding it for other reasons. Can I… can I talk to him? I mean, not alone, of course” she looks away and blushes. “With you guys too, of course”

“We’ll talk to him, definitely” says Glimmer. “And you have to be there in case he starts to speak your tech language. We’re going to need a translator”

“I agree!” she grins, looking radiant. Maybe she does have a crush on Hordak, after all… how curious. “I’m sure he has a reasonable explanation for this”

“We’ll see about that” murmurs Glimmer. “Guys, I think we should get back, for now. The rebuilding of this place can wait. We might need She-Ra”

“Yeah, let’s go talk to Hordak first” I nod. “Plus, I think this place is in good hands”

“Oh, did you think about who’s going to rule it?” asks Glimmer.

I exchange a silent look with Catra and I can tell we’re thinking the same thing. “Yep, we have an idea” she says. “Let’s go talk to her before we go, Adora”

“Wait, so it’s not gonna be the two of you?” asks Glimmer, tilting her head.

“Adora and I abandoned this place, we don’t have any right to claim it as ours” Catra explains. “And so did Scorpia. I bet she prefers staying with Perfuma, anyway. Yeah, her Runestone is here, but she doesn’t need to be next to it to get her powers, so… There’s only one person who deserves to rule this place, and I think she’ll be perfect”

“Who?” asks Glimmer, looking confused.

“Lonnie” replies Catra. “She wouldn’t have it any other way. She’d probably kill us if we told her we want to rule this place, anyway”

“She’d have a point” I chuckle. “Yeah, let’s go tell her before we go. Glimmer, can you teleport us out of here? I hope she’s still on that hill with the others, or we’ll waste time looking for her”

“Okay, let’s go outside” says Glimmer. “Come closer”. We obey, and when she grabs us we all teleport outside the main building of the Fright Zone.

While Entrapta and Glimmer wait for us, Catra and I go back to the hill we met Lonnie and the others before. Luckily, they’re still there. Kyle is laying down, his head on Rogelio’s lap, while Lonnie is writing something on a piece of paper.

“Hey guys, it’s us again” I tell them, coming forward.

“Waaaaaait, what?” chuckles Lonnie, checking me out. “What happened to you down there?”

At first, I don’t realize what she’s talking about, but then I remember that, thanks to Catra, I basically look like a completely different person now.

“Guess I did quite a good job, uh?” brags Catra.

“You did this?” asks Kyle, sitting up, looking amazed. “You’re pretty talented, Catra! Can you cut my hair like that too?”

“Eeeehm, sure!” she replies, scratching the back of her head. “If you like”

“Maybe next time” I interrupt them. “We really gotta go now. We found something in Hordak’s lab and we need to understand what it is. But I will be back and help you with whatever you need”

“Chill, Adora, I told you we’re good on our own” replies Lonnie, shrugging. “I got this”

“Yeah, I know you do, that’s why we thought… I mean, I know we don’t have any authority, okay? But Glimmer actually does, she’s the Queen, you know, so… she told us that we should decide what to do with this place and who is going to rule it—”

“What?” snaps Lonnie. “Who gives _you_ the right to—”

“Wait!” Catra barges in. “Lonnie, I know we don’t have any right to decide, that’s the point. This place belongs to you, all of you guys, and it should be up to you to decide how to run it. But… we only wanted to tell you that… we think you’d make a great leader”

Lonnie’s expression softens immediately. She widens her eyes and her cheeks turn slightly red.

“Uhm… oh, well…” she exclaims, surprised, suddenly looking disoriented. “It’s not like I think there’s going to be a leader, but…”

“I agree with them” says Kyle, giving her the warmest smile. “No one else can do it but you. People look up to you, and you’re the strongest among us. If the new Fright Zone needs a leader, it has to be you”

She looks down, smiling embarrassedly. I think I had never seen Lonnie like this, I guess she can be soft too, after all!

“I…” she murmurs. “I don’t know what to say exactly, but thanks, guys” She looks up at us. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I care about what you two dummies think, but… yeah, whatever”

Catra and I exchange a satisfied look: we know we can’t expect more from her right now, but it’s okay. We’ll work on this.

“Well, I guess we’ll go for now” I tell them. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. I’m really curious to see how you guys are planning to rebuild this place”

Lonnie looks down at her piece of paper and some hesitant seconds later she hands it to me. I look closely at it with Catra: it’s a planimetry. It’s just a rough sketch, but it still makes me smile.

“This place will look amazing, you’ll see” says Lonnie.

I give it back to her with a proud smile. “I’m sure it will, Captain”


	25. Hordak

I have been sitting in this room for what seems like ages. It is probably only a matter of days, but my perception of time is deceptive. I have been left alone with my thoughts, a feeling I had completely forgotten when Horde Prime purified me from my memories and connected me to the hive mind. It was comforting, though, in spite of the erasure of my identity: not having to think or ponder, no responsibilities for your own actions, and most importantly, no feelings. I enjoyed forgetting all of them: rage, fear, pain and… I close my eyes, trying to name the new, strange feeling I have when Entrapta’s face crosses my troubled mind. It is something I had never dealt with before, I do not know how to control it, nor if I should. I wonder if she is as confused as I am…

My stream of thoughts is interrupted by someone entering the room: I raise my head and when I recognize Entrapta an odd, burning sensation starts radiating from my chest. She is not alone, though. Queen Glimmer, Adora, Catra and the archer boy are with her.

“Hordak!” cries Entrapta when she lays her rose eyes on me. She runs in my direction and kneels right in front of me. “I’ve missed you so much! Are you okay? I’m sorry they locked you in here, I wish I could take you to my castle so that—”

“Entrapta, can we please get to the point?” the Queen interrupts her, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, sure, sorry” she giggles. Then she looks at me with a worried expression. “Hordak, I was in your lab because I wanted to collect all of our data so that we could start working on another project together, I’ll explain later, but the thing is that… I found a hidden folder in your computer”

I widen my eyes as an almost forgotten memory flashes through my mind: a mission left unfinished. Fear takes control of my body, making me shiver. I do not know why I am reacting like this, that folder… I cannot remember… but something seems familiar, something is trying to make its way in my mind, but I cannot grasp it yet.

“No…” I whisper. “I… do not remember…”

“What are those coordinates?” asks Catra, aggressively. “What have you been hiding, Hordak?”

“And why are they coming towards Etheria?” adds Adora.

“What? Coordinates?” I exclaim, shocked. “I do not understand… Why would they…” They? Who are they? My mind gets lost in a spiral of confusion and fear, elevating my heart rate. 

“They?” repeats Entrapta, worried. “Who are they? What’s going on, Hordak?”

“I am sorry, Entrapta” I shake my head, incapable of looking at her. “I cannot remember. You must take me there, I have to see it myself”

“I don’t believe it” snaps Catra. “He’s lying! It must be a trap or something, how could he not remember a hidden folder in his own computer??”

“Entrapta, please” I look into her eyes, hoping to find some comfort in them. “You must believe me. I cannot remember what this folder is exactly, but I know what might have happened. I think I hid it from myself”

“What?” she whispers, looking confused. “What do you mean?”

“What was the name of the folder?” I ask her.

“Eeeeeeehm” she scratches her chin with a tuft of lilac hair. Her soft, beautiful hair… “It was something like ‘Do not access until reunion with Horde Prime’, and then some strange symbols I had never seen before”

“Oh… I see now” I take a deep breath, realizing what this is about. My premonition was correct: it cannot be anything good. “I know what I have done. That folder must be hiding something I did not want Horde Prime to know. That is why I must have erased my memory of it after encrypting it”

“You did what?” asks the Queen, raising her eyebrow, disoriented. “How? Why?”

“As a Prime clone, I knew that he would have seen through my memories once we would be rejoined. It was a risk I could not take, probably because if he had known the content of that folder, he would have destroyed me. I… I was only trying to survive”

“But how did you erase your memory?” asks Entrapta, tears in her eyes. “And how are you supposed to remember, now?”

“It was not an irreversible process. As a clone, part of my brain is pure tech, I only had to find a way to connect my brain to the computer and transfer the information I wanted to have removed. I studied and made countless tests for years before I could finally do it in a safe way. And it must have worked, because when Horde Prime saw through my memories he did not mention the folder. I succeeded”

Entrapta’s eyes widen in bewilderment, but I can see a faint trace of enthusiasm in her. “You… you did this all by yourself?” she whispers, astonished.

“Yes” I nod, incapable of holding back a proud smile.

“Hordak, you are a GENIUS!” she cries, running her hands through her hair. “THIS IS CRAZY! I thought we were on the same level but YOU ARE SO AHEAD OF ME! I have soooo much to learn from you! You are amazing and—"

“Entrapta, wait” says Adora, coming forward. “Let’s leave the compliments for later, okay? We need to focus. Hordak, what do you need to remember? We need to know what this is about, it’s coming towards Etheria”

“Take me to my lab” I suggest. “I only have to go through the folder. I must have written a coded message with all the information”

“Oooooooooooo” Entrapta squeaks, excited. “That’s why I saw all those symbols I had never encountered before! You created a secret code!”

“Yes. It is a coded language I created myself. I still know how to decipher it, of course, I did not transfer that information away from my brain. Just take me there”

“I want to learn how to create a secret code too!” exclaims the archer boy, looking impressed. “That’s amazing!”

“Bow, not now” says the Queen. “Let’s go to the lab right now” She raises her hand and points it at me, then she moves it in a circular motion, following a pattern that I have seen Shadow Weaver doing a lot when she practiced her spells. A moment later, the magic seal beneath me disappears.

“Come here, guys” says the Queen. “All of us, let’s go”. The group kneels beside me, all of them touching each other’s shoulder, and when the Queen touches mine, I feel as if my body is suddenly being sucked away and my vision becomes blurred. It is one of the most unpleasant sensations I have ever felt, so unpleasant I close my eyes in pain.

When I reopen them, I find myself and the others in my lab, incredibly. I did not know the Queen had such great power.

“Here we are, go to your folder now” she orders. “And remember that we’re watching you, Hordak. If you’re plotting something or—”

“Yes, I know” I growl. “I have no intention to betray you” I look around and go towards my computer, Entrapta closely following me. It feels… good, to be back in here with her. We shared so many… did so much research, together.

“Will you be okay?” she asks me as I turn on the computer.

I turn to look at her and smile. “Of course, do not worry about me. I wanted to tell you I am impressed by your hacking skills… Finding and accessing that folder was something that only an élite scientist could do. I believe you are… an amazing scientist, Entrapta”

Her cheeks turn red and her eyebrows slightly arch downward when I say that, and since she is now smiling, I think she was probably pleased to hear it. I turn to my computer, then I type a sequence of fifteen numbers that automatically opens the private folders section. I wonder how long it took Entrapta to hack it, not knowing this sequence. I look at the folder in question and take a deep breath before clicking on it. Luckily, I can perfectly remember all the series of passwords I had set. I type all of them quickly, but before entering the last one, I take another deep breath, trying to slow down my heart rate. I have a terrible feeling, somehow. Entrapta places a tuft of hair on my shoulder and gives me a supportive look which gives me all the determination I needed to face this.

When I finally enter the last password, the folder reveals a sequence of numbers that indicate coordinates in space, as Entrapta suggested. At the end of that sequence, though, I recognize my secret alphabet and start reading through it, slowly deciphering the message I…

When I finally understand what I am reading, I fall on my knees, I suddenly remember everything. All of it. And the realization of what is about to come burdens me with anguish.

“Hordak, what is it?” asks Entrapta, worried. “Are you okay??”

“Hey, what’s going on?” asks Catra, moving closer with the rest of the group. “What are those coordinates?”

“A… ship…” I whisper, shaking. “A ship is coming”

“A ship?” she repeats, scared. “Do you know who’s inside that ship?”

“It’s them” I reply, looking at my scared reflection in Entrapta’s eyes. “The First Ones”


	26. Adora

I must have heard him wrong. It can’t be the First Ones. The First Ones are gone, Prime wiped them away, he told me, it… it can’t be.

“What?” whispers Glimmer, shocked. “The First Ones? But… I thought they were all dead and that Adora was the last of them!”

“No… they were not defeated, not all of them” Hordak replies. “If Horde Prime had found out I failed my mission…”

“What mission?” asks Entrapta, worried.

“Do you remember when I confessed I was a clone? When Horde Prime discovered a defect in my system he sent me on a suicide mission, together with other defected clones. We were supposed to ambush the last, strongest group of First Ones soldiers. We were severely outnumbered, which is why it was almost impossible to succeed. But I knew that if I found a way to win, I would have regained his trust and approval. I gave my all in that fierce battle, I saw the rest of my brothers die, I was the last one standing. I was bathing in glory as I beheld the ultimate limits of my power, as I crushed those soldiers like insects… I was unstoppable. But one of them, a skilled scientist like most of the First Ones, managed to open a portal while his comrades held me back. He got onto a ship and took all the people he could with him during the battle. The soldiers that were fighting me tried to retreat back to the ship, but I was so hungry for blood I would not let them escape. The ship was hovering and ready to go through the portal, the soldiers tried to reach for their comrades already on board. Some of them were left behind, I killed them, but the others were safe and about to take off with the ship. I was so blind I thought I could take all of them down by myself, so I followed them: I managed to jump on the ship right before it took off. I was hoping to take them by surprise, but… I was reckless, and I underestimated them. They had prepared a trap inside the ship, a strong electric field that activated as soon as it detected the chip on my neck. I was paralyzed, completely powerless, and fell to the ground. After that… they made me their prisoner. They studied me, conducted experiments on me… painful experiments… they wanted to discover a way to defeat Horde Prime and they thought I would be the key. But they found no weakness that could be used against Prime. They kept traveling in space for weeks, months, trying to run from him. Prime must have believed they were wiped away by my squadron. He took all the credit for it… But this does not matter, now. What I am trying to say is that I was sent to Etheria… by them. I did not ‘fell through’ a portal, as I remembered: I was pushed through one. The First Ones realized I had no use in their ship, so they came up with another plan, now I see… I see what they have done… all of this… it all went according to their plan”

“Plan? What plan?” I murmur, feeling my heartbeat accelerating and an unpleasant sensation growing in my stomach.

“Can you not see it?” Hordak growls. “ _This_ was their plan to defeat Horde Prime, and it worked! I was stranded on Etheria for a precise reason: they knew I would have found a way to contact Horde Prime, they had been studying my brain for months, they were sure about my loyalty towards him, so they left me here, using me as a bait…” He clenches his fists, hard enough to make him shiver. “I did exactly what they thought I would do: trying to conquer Etheria, opening a portal to reach Horde Prime, and… of course, the ultimate weapon, the final piece of the puzzle was you… Adora”

I gulp, freezing. I find it hard to control my heavy breathing, but the fear is growing like a monster inside of me, eating my insides. “What… what are you talking about?” I whisper in a trembling voice.

“They brought you to me… you were not ‘kidnapped’ from your family, they were the ones who decided you would become their weapon, their _She-Ra_. I overheard them while I was on the ship: they had been experimenting with the Heart of Etheria for years, and She-Ra was the key to activate it. They knew I would have found a way to bring Horde Prime to Etheria and that he would have discovered the magic of the Heart. His greed is indeed predictable. I see now, this is such a perfect plan… they manipulated me, all along… I brought Prime here, She-Ra defeated him by setting the magic free, and now… they have no enemies left. They have everything they wanted: the magic set free, their greatest opponent gone. And now they are coming to reclaim this planet, and they are coming to reclaim their She-Ra”

I step back, overwhelmed by what I’ve just heard. My head becomes clouded, my vision blurred, and I feel like my knees might fail me at any time.

“What are you talking about??” growls Catra, gritting her teeth. “Are you expecting us to believe this crazy story? There’s no way the First Ones could plot this whole thing, I’m not buying it”

“And what do you mean by ‘reclaiming the planet and She-Ra’?” snaps Glimmer, visibly upset.

“Everyone, please! Calm down!” says Bow. “I don’t see why Hordak should lie about this, he must be telling the truth, but… this is pretty crazy, still. If only you could give us a proof—”

“A proof?” snarls Hordak. “You want to waste the time we have left before they arrive by looking for some proof? I do not have one. You have to trust me, we must be ready for them, or else we…”

“Wait, but why should we worry?” asks Glimmer. “We have She-Ra, she defeated Prime! She’s as powerful as ever, why should we be afraid of a bunch of First Ones survivors?”

“You do not understand” Hordak replies. “They must not be underestimated. I made this mistake once, I will not do it twice. Do you really believe they do not know how to take She-Ra down? She was their weapon from the very beginning”

“I’m not…” I whisper in a soft voice. “I’m not their weapon… I broke the Sword… I… I did it myself, I…”

“It does not matter” replies Hordak. “The First Ones have always found a way to manipulate their She-Ra, it is just what they do, you were never supposed to be in control. And I am sure they know how to neutralize She-Ra, therefore we must be ready!”

Neutralize… She-Ra? I fall on my knees, holding my head in my hands, as Mara’s face crosses my mind like a painful flash: she tried to fight her destiny, and all she got was… death. Is this what will happen to me? Will all of this have been in vain? Will I lose everything I’ve been fighting for? Will I… No, no, no, no…

“Adora, I’m here”

Catra’s voice filters through the darkness that is slowly taking control over my thoughts. “Hey, I got you” she murmurs, softly, kneeling in front of me and cupping my head in her hands. “Look at me”

I obey, feeling hot tears streaming down my cheeks. She wipes them away with her thumbs and does her best to smile. “Whatever happens, I’m staying with you. I won’t let them touch you, okay? Do you hear me? I won’t let them hurt you, you’re going to be okay. We just need to stay together. Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other, remember?”

I’m doing my best to try and believe her words, but it feels like it’s just too much, I can’t take it.

“Hey, Adora” Bow is kneeling beside me too, followed by Glimmer. “We’re in this together”

“Yeah” says Glimmer, giving me a warm smile that for some reason reminds me of Angella. “We’re right beside you, ready to fight”

I feel like I’m melting inside, as I watch all of them, the most important people in my life, the people I love the most, smiling at me, looking at me in a way that makes me understand they care for me, and that I matter to them. Not as She-Ra, but as Adora. Maybe… maybe I’m not alone in this. Maybe we can face this, together.

“We must prepare to face the unknown powers of an extremely technologically-advanced enemy group!” cries Entrapta. “Hordak, you know them! And you have defeated their soldiers, you must know their weaknesses! Together, we can find a way to undermine their weapons!”

“I suppose we can try” he replies, nodding. “Many years have passed, they might have become even stronger, built new weapons, but… with your help, Entrapta, we might stand a chance”

“Let’s do this” says Glimmer, standing up. “Bow, you’ll stay with Entrapta and Hordak to help them with whatever they need. And, most importantly, they might help you improve your arsenal of arrows. We must be ready for anything, if what Hordak says is true”

“Yeah! More arrows!” Bow exclaims in a cracking voice, stars in his eyes.

“Adora, Catra and I will go back to Bright Moon to tell the other princesses about the situation. We’re going to need all the help we can”

I sigh, shaking my head at the thought of having to fight, again. It’s been just a couple of days, life was starting to get back to normal, and now… Whatever, there’s no use crying about it. My friends need me now, I can’t let them down.

I rise, infused with determination. “I won’t let the First Ones take away everything we’ve been fighting for” I say, clenching my fists. “I don’t care if they are my people, my family. The only family I care about is right here, next to me, and I will do whatever it takes to protect it. And I will protect Etheria too, no matter what. This is what She-Ra is truly supposed to do, and that’s exactly what I’ll do! I’m ready to take the First Ones down, for the honor of Mara, and” my eyes glow bright as I feel the energy running through my body, “for the honor of Grayskull”


End file.
